Curve and Shake

The Silos never made the commercial breakthrough that their critical appreciation suggested (they were voted Best New American Band in the 1987 Rolling Stone Critics’ Poll). But their leader, Walter Salas-Humara, has quietly amassed a catalog of songs as powerful as other noted songwriters from Joe Henry to Ryan Adams. His third solo album, 2014’s Curve and Shake, includes cowrites with acclaimed novelist Jonathan Lethem and enough empathy and intelligence to inspire Silos fans and future singer/songwriters alike. The album adds a number of different backing groups, including Jerry Joseph & The Jackmormons (“What Can We Bring,” “The Craziest Feeling”), the Ontario, Calif.–based Groove Session (“Satellite,” “Uncomplicated”), and musicians/vocalists Charlie Salas-Humara, Marius Libman (of Portland, Ore.’s Sun Angle), and a half-dozen others. The humility of “Hoping for a Comeback” and the puzzles of love solved on “I Love That Girl” demonstrate how easy Salas-Humara makes it sound in his hands. Yet even he asks “Does it have to be so hard?” during “Uncomplicated,” illustrating how illusions are often simply that.