With Hole Dug

Though, judging by the monikers, Timmy Prudhomme's solo debut appears to have more potential for widespread attention then his band, Fuck, With Hole Dug refuses to cater to any ideas of what is accessible. Leaving behind the off-kilter, Pavement-like momentum of Fuck's pop songs, Prudhomme focuses on the subtle sound of dark folk music. If you thought Pardon My French was a quiet record, then With Hole Dug is a metaphoric whisper. With spare guitars, warm keyboards, and even a theremin, Prudhomme and company explore a landscape of the heart normally reserved only for Leonard Cohen -- and Prudhomme uses this lyrical and vocal influence well. On the dreamy "At 3 a.m.," Prudhomme sings, "At 5 a.m. she goes to leave/As she turns from me she says goodnight/At 5 a.m. I realize when she said goodnight she meant goodbye." The song alternates between melancholy, Cohen-like pondering punctuated with glimmers of light (right down to the angelic backup vocals of Megan Reilly which evoke those in "So Long, Marianne" and "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye") and epiphany worthy of Mercury Rev's Jonathan Donahue. Prudhomme's work will astound fans of Songs: Ohia, Miighty Flashlight, and Papa M. With Hole Dug is a record that is expansive in its intimacy -- like a room that is, paradoxically, bigger on the inside than on the outside.