The debut album from Southern California native
Loren Kramar
,
Glovemaker
reflects a childhood spent captivated by the art and artifice of Hollywood. Struck by the show biz bug, he partook in theater, dance, and songwriting from a young age and sometimes spent his Friday nights hanging out on the Warner Bros. lot (with a friend and her parents). He wrote a holiday album when he was ten and later studied fine art in college while writing spoken-word pieces based on his inner world and notions of identities. Signing with
Secretly Canadian
for his singer/songwriter debut, he seems to throw caution to the wind on a set of songs that alternate between the haunted, flirty, and crudely candid while walking a stylistic line between intimate, pained balladry, and theatrical Baroque pop. With a title meant to convey the public personas we all cultivate on some level,
begins with the
Bacharach
-informed, horns-injected "Hollywood Blvd," whose first words are, "Welcome to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour," before
Kramar
introduces himself by name. As
snakes its way through more-intimate, piano-based arrangements, jauntier Tin Pan Alley-inflected fare ("I'm a Slut," "Birthday Thursday"), and atmospheric, reverb-heavy tracks ("Like a Lover"), the spotlight is always on
's distinctively timbred voice -- parts
Cat Stevens
and
Aaron Neville
-- and expressive performances. His full vocal range is on display on the epic "Gay Angels," a murmured dirge that builds into something more akin to a rock opera. Produced and mixed by
Sean O'Brien
(
the National
Allie Crowe Buckley
), the album's contributors are no one to sneeze at, either, and include such esteemed Los Angeles-based artists as
Sam Gendel
(saxophone),
John Carroll Kirby
(synths),
Amber Coffman
(backing vocals), and string arranger/conductor
Drew Erickson
Father John Misty
Mitski
). Almost seeming like the soundtrack to a biopic about a star-crossed lounge singer who had at least brushes with fame,
more than rises to the occasion. ~ Marcy Donelson