The Hardship Diaries

All singer-songwriter albums should be called something like The Hardship Diaries. There's something about picking up an acoustic guitar and telling your band to go and wait in the van that brings out the melancholic streak in everyone. To Dave McPherson's credit, though, this is not the InMe-without-amplification that we might have expected. Songs like the excellent 'Hummingbird' are loose and light, with a prog-folk virtuosity beneath the surface and a surprising poppiness that sets off fireworks in the gloom. If he wants to escape 'hardship' he should probably spend less cash on recording, because this sounds nothing like your typical microbudget moanfest, but then that might be a hardship for the rest of us.