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David Bazan
Curse Your Branches
How bittersweet. If the dissolution of former Pedro The Lion frontman David Bazan’s Christianity wasn’t apparent on his previous EP, there’s no mistaking it on his first solo full-length, Curse Your Branches. Playing like a semi-autobiographical apologetic for his atheism, the album’s value lies as much in being another chapter of Bazan’s incisive songwriting and evocatively worldweary singing as an opportunity for listeners keeping the faith to confront the reflections of an erstwhile brother who lost his. Where he once keenly observed human fallenness from a vantage point of aspirant hope, now he accuses God and those who would take Him at His Word. Melancholy as it is, it’s sonically lovely; Bazan splits the difference between his Lion and Headphones tenures, mixing folkiness and electronics with a penchant for skewed, slow-growing hooks redolent of Brian Wilson and Warren Zevon. Lovely, yes, but bittersweet. [Barsuk] Jamie Lee Rake


DVP rating: 3.5
Writer rating: 3.0




This album review was originally published in the July/August issue (#138) of HM Magazine. Order the Print Version to read tons more reviews. You can order the Print Version of this issue online or find this issue on newsstands. You can NOW read this entire feature in the online edition of HM Magazine. If you're a subscriber, you get a free online/digital subscription with your print subscription. You can purchase a single online/digital edition (which includes access to back issues) for only $1.99. A one-year digital-only subscription can be had for only $6.




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