California

Paul Curreri’s sixth album California is a work of contradictions — its tunes are both ragged and refined, its lyrics quirky but serious. What is clear-cut is its sharp intelligence and rambunctious spirit, served up by Curreri with a street busker’s unpretentious charm. Much of California feels like a beatnik travelogue, especially the propulsive, sung-spoken “Here Comes Another Morning” and the nicely ramshackle “Now I Can Go On.” Curreri combines a growly but supple vocal presence with a shimmering acoustic guitar touch reminiscent of Bruce Cockburn. He reaches for visionary heights in the title tune and taps into a deep bluesy vein in “The Line.” There’s a traditional side to his music as well, heard in the woozy waltz “Tight Pack Me Sugar” and the camp-meeting gospel number “Down By the Water.” California is filled with surreal, almost goofy wordplay (see “Once Upon a Rooftop”), but tracks like “I Can’t Return” likewise display great honesty and tenderness. Curreri’s wife Devon Sproule joins him for a haunting duet on Michael Hurley’s “Wildegeeses.”