Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore

for The Weekly Feed

Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore
Dear Companion
2010

I wrote one word and jabbed a period. I stared at it for three seconds. Underlined it. The review was complete.

Stirring.

This is one of those refreshing albums that renew your faith in humanity, that give you an exaggerated sense of love for others, that wrap your soul in a snuggie© and wet kiss a golden retriever by a fireplace. How exactly can something as intangible as music do these things? If there were an answer to that, you can bet that Clear Channel and the Major Labels would have it in a tattooed formula for all their artists to follow. And judging by the state of mainstream radio, that just hasn’t happened.

Dear Companion, the collaboration of Ben Solle & Daniel Martin Moore, including Jim James on production, illustrates what can be accomplished when proficient songsmiths embrace an efficiency of space and allow music to breathe, while providing a palpable tension from its contrasts. It’s the cello quarter notes vs. the sixteenths on the hi-hat; the spirited and agile banjo vs. the half-time drag of the drums; the most beautiful vocal parts that turn out to be the inseparable amalgamation of two voices.

This is an album that continues in the rich heritage of Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. and Summerteeth, an album that demands you immediately take a road trip through the Great American Southwest in a dusty convertible, Thelma & Louise style, your destination a covered back porch in Knoxville overlooking a forested ravine with a steaming cup of coffee to counter the nip in the air.

Something, Somewhere, Sometime is the opening track that sets the tone for the album, showcasing that intensity of contrasts, the building anticipation that ends the same way as most songs here: too soon. From here, the album settles into its lower-key theme of savory songwriter goodness. Sollee and the warm intonations of his cello are in fantastic form here, especially on Only A Song and Try, from which you know after the first six notes that it will be one of your favorites on the album. You’re also sure to hear the title track Dear Companion quite a bit, hopefully as a future single, as it’s one of the standouts.

These Kentucky artists come together with a common passion and mission of raising awareness of Mountaintop Removal coal mining. According to Sub-Pop, a portion of their proceeds will benefit the organization Appalachian Voices. The album does manage to avoid any heavy-handedness, relying on the artist’s responsibility to raise thought provoking questions, and in the end succeeds in creating as beautiful a landscape as the one they’re trying to preserve. As Mr. Sollee sings, “It’s only a song, it can’t change the world”. But I honestly can’t think of a better place to begin.

Brian S. Meurer