Ben Weaver – Paper Sky

Spilling out before you like fish guts on the kitchen floor/Everything you loved, everything you thought was yours, Ben Weaver sings on Rain Leaves Smoke over a lazy, lonesome banjo. Lay it all out and never flinch is the code Weaver adheres to as a songwriter, and he lives up to it on Paper Sky, his fifth album. Producer Brian Deck uses spooky synth sounds to add to the darkness and moodiness that creep through the record. The experimentation is applied with a light touch, leaving Weavers weary vocals the stunning focus. Sorrow exists somewhere in the sad glow of a late-night TV, while the album-ending Whatever You Want To Haunt Me is intense and downright creepy. Paper Sky is hard-boiled and not always easy to listen to, but its certainly something to behold.