Cass Mccombs - Humor Risk

Cass McCombs has been knocking about for a while being rather good at what he does but not exciting me enough to invest myself in his work. This is his fifth record for Domino and his second in a year so he certainly ain't no slacker... well, not musically anyway. 'Humor Risk' starts with two very strong compositions, 'Love Thine Enemy', which reminds me of Bill Callahan's 'Cold Blooded Old Times' with it's insistent strum 'n' drum groove and 'The Living Word', which has a particularly effective melodic structure that harks back to San Francisco's golden era of hippydom. From here on out I'm kinda convinced by his songwriting style and everything seems to be falling into place as I find points of reference that will never fail to impress. We're talking Callahan, Hagerty, O'Rourke and even Vangaalan (to an extent) plus a host of Psych-Pop and Folk-Rock influences from the 60's/70's. His voice is strong here and his composition is clearly on form. A definite grower.