Denison Witmer

Less than two minutes long and featuring six lines, "Let Go a Little" is key to understanding Denison Witmer. The Philadelphia-spawned singer/songwriter has been making records since the late '90s and has built a moderate audience to unravel his poetic vagueness. He's always preferred the dark, slow, acoustic side, where traveling is never light or easy. This high seriousness mixed with efforts at spontaneity makes for unpredictable results, and the songs either mean more or less than he thinks. "Take More Than You Need" nails the intimacy of the early-'70s singer/songwriters he's obvious committed to memory. "Right Behind You" is an intimate portrait worthy of an album titled after himself. And in the shuffling "Keep Moving Brother, Keep Moving Sister," he sings: "I consider my name/The one I'm given and the one I became/and the difference between hangs inside the stars, my love." It's a more promising outcome than "Made Out for This," where his question of purpose could bring about the wrong answer.