'Letter to Katherine December'
What The Critics Say
Holmes' second album boasts much fuller production than his debut, which gains in sonic scope, but also loses some of the hushed-and-damned atmosphere that was one of his strongest attributes. Often this sounds like a weird cross between mild acid folk and Broadway show orchestration -- a combination which isn't all that appetizing. Holmes' songs are often eccentric observational musings, like one on the "High School Hero," now saddled with a depressing mundane life that put him outside both the commercial mainstream and underground hipdom. Again, his vocals, whether by deliberate choice or as a consequence of underproduction, have a hollow cardboardish quality, and lamentably the limitations of his range become apparent the louder and higher he needs to sing. As on Holmes' first LP, Ted Irwin adds interesting if not always perfectly suited wiry jazz psychedelic guitar playing. For all its drawbacks, the record includes a startling doom-laden folk psychedelic track, "Leaves That Are Breaking," with some meltdown fuzz guitar by Irwin. That mood is broken/contrasted when the LP segues into "It's Always Somewhere Else," which sounds like the jazziest and breeziest cuts from Love's Forever Changes, yet in an even breezier and cheerier vibe. It's down in the dumps again for the closing "Houston Street," in which Holmes' vocal is barely a mumble against formless, wandering (but spare) guitars, cementing the somewhat manic-depressive aura of the record. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
'Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes'
What The Critics Say
Jake Holmes' first album will always be primarily known for the inclusion of the original version of "Dazed and Confused," the same song that, with substantial alteration to its arrangement, would become one of Led Zeppelin's major showpieces. Holmes' original is quite different and worthy in its own right: a stark, spooky folk-rock track with stinging reverbed lead guitar, Holmes' own pained vocals, and furiously strummed rhythm guitar that winds itself into an anguished climax. Unfortunately, it's by far the best song on the LP, though the tense rapid rhythm guitar and disembodied acid folk mood (by a drumless lead guitar/rhythm guitar/bass trio) are constant throughout the disc. Ted Irwin's spiky, jazz acid folk lead guitar lines are like a garage-ish version of those by frequent Tim Buckley accompanist Lee Underwood. Holmes' thin voice was recorded in a way that makes it sound curiously muffled and disembodied, which both adds to the weirdness of the weirder parts and detracts from the record's overall power. His songwriting, too, is erratic, sometimes reaching a reasonably effective level of haunting loneliness, at others descending into bathos (particularly on the closer, "Signs of Age"). ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
