Big Enough to Disappear

Singer/songwriter Moris Tepper bears obvious similarities to Bob Dylan and Tom Waits (for whom he has worked as a sideman), and he seems to alternate between one and the other from song to song on his album Big Enough to Disappear. Tepper has a versatile voice that sometimes comes out as a fairly clear tenor (at which times he suggests Neil Young) and sometimes as gruff and gravel-laden. In his folk-rock arrangements, he is fond of adding odd instruments, especially Jay Mueller's tuba in place of a bass, the better to get that Swordfishtrombones sound. But he is just as likely to go for a more traditional folk-rock style, as in the leadoff track, "Can't Stop Cryin'," and "(If You Really Want To) Hurt Someone," as if in search of the sound of Blonde on Blonde. In either case, his lyrical persona here is a man who seems to have lost his love, but that just serves as the jumping-off place for some fanciful and poetic words from a highly imaginative writer. Still, heartbreak is never far from Tepper's mind, and by the end of the disc, he is still insisting, "I will not rest/Until you lay down beside me once again."