John Guliak is the owner of both the kind of dust-caked, cracked-leather voice a generation of alt-country upstarts would kill for and the kind of impeccable musical taste that engenders covers of classics vintage ("Streets of Baltimore") and modern (
Uncle Tupelo's "Still Be Around") alike. So why isn't
The Black Monk more memorable? Tough to say: the songs, singer, and backing band (including Vancouver luminaries like
Carolyn Mark and guitarist/producer
Tolan McNeil) are all there, but somehow the end product never catches fire -- the record is so laid-back and lived-in that it suggests nothing so much as a group of friends singing songs around a campfire, which is all well and good assuming someone's handing you a s'more. Listening at home, however, is a different story altogether. ~ Jason Ankeny