John Guilt The Mirrors and Uncle Sam

John Guilt are a three piece seemingly based round Virginia. Based around the song writing of Andrew Goldman, with help from multi-instrumentalists John Berry and TJ Lipple, the band emerged from a band called Maestro Echoplex, which was then revealed as a pseudonym for songwriter Johnny Fontaine (another Goldman pseudonym - I was moderately confused too). Maestro Echoplex received acclaim for their Last Night I Saw God On The Dance Floor E.P (named number two record of 2001 by the BBC New Music room) with several favourable comparisons to the likes of Elliot Smith, Neil Young and Paul Simon. John Guilt (Goldman with multi-instrumentalists John Berry and T.J Lipple) is currently on hiatus while its chief architect works on a solo project as Andrew Spencer, but this, their 2003 debut album, hit the U.K in February this year.

The album sticks to a (impressively well produced given the apparent lack of a massive budget) lo-fi indie-singer-songwriter template. Goldman's voice is smooth and clear with a slightly fragile operatic tinge. It seems to bind The Mirrors... together as much as the measured musicianship. This record manages to vary subtly, evident by the way the opening departure half-heartbreak of Absence Makes the Heart Bleed (Damian Rice meets John Mayer on a banjo perhaps) easily flows into Hell at the End of Route 33 (Knock Knock era smog with a little more desire for airplay) while still appearing very much part the same piece of work. John Guilt happily move between the Figure#8-era Smith /intimate Death Cab For Cutie style measured personal introspection of the album's title track (which finds Goldman singing, "I'm nothing without good lighting. But a poor reflection of history") and more scathing socio-political commentary (well, it's more sussed than that tag). Either way, there's certainly enough erudite and 'normal' internal commentary on current affairs across the pond to make the listener think that stereotyping is a two-way street. On Red/White/Blue (anyone else from the UK feel a little insecure) we're in a country where the protagonist "can see the broadcasts in the faces of their bloodshot eyes" walking down the street. The mildly scathing Smokestacks & Graveyards features a voice pining to "live where the air makes me sick and the people make me sicker". There's also a mellow Stephen Malkmus-ish take on the Tom Waits/Keith Richards tune That Feel

My favourite moment here occurred near the end of the album. The Way The Pounding Heart Pounds turns out to be a fantastic slice of white soul (think James Taylor and Josh Rouse meeting Beck at his most Prince-influenced). Goldman sounds like he's having fun and rather than directly commenting on an issue/event he manages to pull out some absolutely fantastic lyrics with perfect accompaniment. It's all good throughout but I'll pick "Love is the place where our souls come alive...No more resistance. Just some pyramid schemes" to illustrate. It gives me a similar feeling to the one I get listening to D'Angelo, which is no faint praise. I'm rating this 6/10 as in 3/5 rather than just one rung above 5/10, if that makes any sense. A solid album that shows glimpses of serious potential.