Sometimes, it works best to hear music with a fresh set of ears. John Gimler’s album is stark, contains little in the way or production and next to no overdubs. This is an unfiltered performance; 20 years ago it could have been by a songwriter, alone in his apartment at 3 a.m., with his guitar recording a batch of demos on a four-track cassette machine. This is the sound of one guy chasing his demons in his haunted voice and leaving a raw collection of songs in his wake.
Scant information was limited to a Post-it Note tacked to the promo CD, with a phone number bearing a Corpus Christi, Texas area code. That was intriguing enough. The handwritten address for a barebones website shows a free performance April 3 at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn. The bio references “laid-back vibes” but it sounds like something far deeper is happening here.
