Any Port in a Storm

New York City teaches young people on a daily basis that they're not the center of the universe but rather trapped there for the poetry that's mostly in their minds. Sure, "Spring St." catches the hyper-romantic young man Craig Dermody thinking about an old love upon staring at the cobblestone streets. "Fakin' NYC" leads to more truthful confessions from the misplaced Aussie whose teenaged dreams are shook by the monotony and the silliness of the exclusive club where he works the door for a paycheck. Dermody's music fits the narrative well. He's a plaintive singer with a rock 'n' roll heart and indifference to correct pitch. His lyrics tell his stories with humor and a sense that everything is worth doing if you can get something else out of it. This cynicism, however, does lead to the touching "Wild Heart," where—once again backed by sloppy genuine rock 'n' roll that could be Nikki Sudden & The Jacobites in another decade—Dermody realizes that not getting what he wants is probably just the way the world works for most of us.