There still come times when an album and/or an artist appears that you were completely oblivious too until the their record appears on your doorstep. David Dondero was one of these guys. Having released an album back in 2005 he found himself touring with the likes of My Morning Jacket, Bright Eyes and Tilly and the Wall. It feels as though he’s slowly, but surely, been working on his writing and waiting for the right time to record and release his follow up, Simple Love. And what a dark gem of a record it is.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. David Dondero sounds like Conor Oberst. There’s no two ways about it, the quivering falsetto, love it or hate it, is here. Dondero’s isn’t quite as undulating, but they’re like two peas in a pod. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get onto more interesting things. Where Oberst’s Cassadaga was an attempt to make a country-rock album, Simple Love is just the real deal. As the opening bars of The Prince William Sound wash over you, the acres of peddle steel and chunky riffs, you know you’re in for a treat. There isn’t the feeling that this is an experiment or someone trying to "sound" country, it’s just their natural sound. He’s also got a way with words too. From the same song the line "I would possess your boyfriends body and you’d be making love to me" sounds at once sinister and yet pathetic. Any love-spurned suitor would have had that thought during their failed attempts at wooing the woman of their dreams. It doesn’t really let up from here. Sure it covers some of the same ground as the alt-country dignitaries such as My Morning Jacket, Bright Eyes and Ryan Adams but there’s something honest about the songs that make you forgive and forget that. Rothko Chapel is a nice post-modernist take on love comparing a girls heart to the Chapel of the songs title, it’s carefully spun lyrics bringing in all his influences from religion to love and the wonder of nature. Humanity, it all it’s forms, form the basis of all his songs. The achingly beautiful title track just weeps wonder, augmented by the presence of a female vocalist, it sounds like a country song centuries old and yet as fresh as the morning dew.

It’s only on the disappointing album closer does it fall apart. Double Murder Ballad Suicide is perhaps a step too far, its jovial recounting of an afternoon looking across the street just sounds a little too contrived and forced. However, you can always stop the album after track nine and everything will be fine. This has been a real hidden gem of a record. A true surprise. It’s lyrics, melodies and rhythms have haunted me ever since I played it. Do yourself a favour, find somewhere that stocks this and just buy it. You won’t regret it and you’d be supporting an artist who deserves wider exposure over some of his more illustrious, and yet uninteresting, contemporaries.
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Links
David Dondero [official site] [myspace]