REVIEW : Redemption's Son - Variety

By JEFF MILLER


“Redemption’s Son” (Enjoy/Universal), the newest album from New York-based critics’ darling Joseph Arthur, is a sprawling collection of orchestral singer-songwriter rock that often feels as if it’s about to collapse under its own heady ambition. Arthur was smart, then, to leave the band at home and accompany himself at this show; by looping percussive guitar tracks with a sampler he brought out the best qualities of his songwriting without highlighting its occasional pretentiousness.

Arthur focused mainly on the new album, unfortunately leaving behind some of his best songs from 2000’s “Come to Where I’m From” (Real World). His set was split evenly between intimate, personal guy-with-a-guitar strumming and band-re-creating sampling, which found Arthur tweaking knobs as much as it found him playing his instrument. Though he remained on an acoustic through the night his sampler gave his playing room to breathe; he often emulated electric sounds, playing swooping, distorted space-rock solos over his own atmospheric backing tracks.

His secret weapon, though, is his voice, a Marlboro-tinged growl that often falls from falsetto to whisper in a moment. When Arthur howls, his banshee-like emoting is resonant; the set’s high points all included some sort of vocal acrobatics.

Arthur was almost upstaged by opener Alexi Murdoch, who has been rapidly drawing buzz thanks in part to heavy support from KCRW. His set of band-backed songs evoked both Nick Drake and David Gray, and audience response to even the quietest numbers was rapt, silent attention, a sign that Murdoch is well on his way to being a headliner himself.