For its first album,
Cheyenne was simply Oklahoma-based singer/songwriter Beau Jennings, who recorded this album with a handful of musician friends (including several members of
Ester Drang, who had appeared in toto as his backing band on his 2003 debut EP) in lieu of a stable band. Often, such revolving-door efforts can sound scattered and unfocused due to the constantly changing cast of musicians, but I Am Haunted, I Am Alive is clearly the work of a musician with a singular vision. Folk and country influenced (there's quite a lot of banjo here, and hints of steel guitar) but rooted in a low-key bedroom singer/songwriter vibe that will be familiar to fans of everyone from
Elliott Smith to
Neutral Milk Hotel, the 12 songs on I Am Haunted, I Am Alive have Jennings' hushed, intimate vocals and acoustic guitar at their heart. Indeed, the arrangements often sound like Jennings' backing musicians are adding overdubs to his solo recordings, as opposed to full band sessions, but the added instruments are subtly layered to create a more rich, textured sound than many similar albums have. (The facile rock critic move here would be to mention Jennings' day job as an architect.) The drawback is Jennings' tendency towards self-consciously poetic lyrics and his occasionally awkward, emo-ish vocal delivery, which blunt the appeal of otherwise solid tunes like "I Learned About Drugs from a Textbook." Both of these bad habits were less evident on this album's superior (not to mention louder) follow-up, The Whale, so I Am Haunted, I Am Alive has the feel of a slightly premature debut recorded before the kinks were entirely worked out. ~ Stewart Mason