Darren Jessee
wrote and recorded most of his third solo album,
Central Bridge
, at his home in Durham, North Carolina, after the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. The title is a reference not to a place but to the various connections -- lifelines -- explored in the songs, including those to people and to nature. Retaining the hushed delivery and subtly textured arrangements of his prior solo records, it was recorded with the same key contributors, namely producer/mixer/instrumentalist
Alan Weatherhead
and strings specialist
Trey Pollard
. A relatively brief, nine-song set, it gets right to the point on opener "Love and Thanks" (which thanks, among others, "Joni," "Keith," "Judy," and "Bob"). Like most of the other songs here, despite seeming to come in at the level of a warm exhale, its full-band arrangement includes not only fingerstyle acoustic guitar and spacey keys but eventual electric guitar, electric bass, and drums. There's a little more bounce in the step of a track like "Getting Close," whose relatively driving chorus delivers further gratitude ("You make it all right for me, babe"), and
Stuart Bogie
guests on saxophone on the likewise affectionate "Sunbeam," which paints a poolside Saturday scene. The latter track even breaks out a few classic "do do do" vocals. It's not all sunshine and saxophones, however, as
Jessee
offers a fair share of melancholy on
, including "Baby Don't Love You," which combines more-complex chords with phrases like "jukebox moaning in the dark" and "a mountainside of lost parts" on its way to ending up alone with no phone messages ("same as you"). Similarly, the piano-led "Mirage" begins with the sentiment "I loved you even when I was ruining it," before
ends the album on the strings-embellished "I Live in Your Old Hometown," which searches for connections since lost.
is relentlessly tender, though, managing to amplify memories, detailed settings, and nuanced emotions without raising his voice above a gentle murmur. ~ Marcy Donelson