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Album Details

• Artist: Simon Joyner
• Album: Lost With The Lights On
• Label: Jagjaguwar
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2004-06-21

Somehow, Simon Joyner has escaped my musical radar for the past decade. As I've said before, there is no possible way to stay on top of all music. Anyway, Simon comes to us from the home of Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Omaha, NE. Lost With The Lights On is Simon's ninth full-length album and I would gather that not much has changed over the years. Usually when a songwriter has found a style he'll stick with it and I would presume that Simon has been doing a similar sound since he started. Lost With The Lights On has a bit of a stark sound and really reminds me a lot of Leonard Cohen. Simon has a couple different singing voices, one really deep and the other fairly upbeat and a little less stark. If you make it through the dark, dark "Blue" then you will probably really enjoy this album. It's a slow mover with Blue written all over it. Simon just uses a guitar to accompany him on this one and a very minimal cello. "Flying Dreams" picks up a slight bit giving Simon a better outlook. One of my favs on the album is the bluesy closer, "Forgotten Blues". It's a slow mover that reminds me of something you might hear in a piano lounge at the end of a rowdy night. Joyner might one day be considered a modern-day Bob Dylan but time will tell and hopefully albums like this will keep getting him more and more exposure. The more you listen to Simon, the more appealing he becomes.

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