Lazarus

After two solo records, Trevor Montgomery’s Lazarus becomes a band on Hawk Medicine, resulting in lush but cryptic arrangements for his heart wrenching songs. After generating giant sounds in the studio for his recent albums, Montgomery found the task of recreating songs live trying and ultimately unfulfilling. Such experiences inspired him to form a band and, backed by three friends, Lazarus now possesses a constant hum, as a hazy, ambient drone augments each tune. The basic keyboard progression and skittering rhythm of "Story” focuses attention on Montgomery’s moody phrasing. With a voice somewhere between Nick Cave and Elvis Costello and a thematic sensibility that traces similar tropes of possessive romance, Montgomery is an interesting presence. There’s a bit of Bono-without-the-budget creeping within "Baby True,” and the wounded tongue that shapes "Hawks” is similarly overwrought. The earthy fragility of the music in something like the VU-inspired "Sister,” however, keeps Lazarus honest and pure, justifying Hawk Medicine’s impassioned pleas.