Marc Olsen – Brighter When

The title of Marc Olsen’s third solo album, Brighter When, might just as easily be a question, as in, when will we turn the corner, when will we be on the upswing? “Haunting” is the adjective you’ll find used most frequently in describing Olson’s music, and there’s an underlying moodiness that permeates everything, even when it spirals from languorous to a whirling rush of sound.

But the key element here is Olsen’s singing, dry as sandpaper and certainly atmospheric enough to stand on its own. His is the kind of voice that’s equally at home behind an acoustic guitar or an electric.

The world-weariness of the songs seems to cast a mournful eye on both past and future, but with a quiet acceptance that makes even a line such as “And here we are down on our knees” (from “Afterglow”) sound like a healing endeavor. Elsewhere, “The Whole Thing Starts” buzzes with a nervy intensity in its delicate portrait of a relationship in freefall, while an insistent guitar riff picks away at the fraying edges.

Brighter When draws you in with a deceptive ease, and leaves you with a feeling of poignancy that’s surprisingly hard to shake.