To Be Loved

To Be Loved
Label: Justice
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: To Be Loved
Ian Moore’s a formerly Texas-based blues guitarist who relocated to the Northwest and discovered his songwriting muse, a move that greatly expanded his sound in unexpected ways. Moore’s music now sounds like what might happen if the latter days of Talk Talk and their austere, nearly immobile ambient pop somehow took a dunk at an alt-country fair. His previous album, Luminaria, was a perfectly balanced watershed of talent. His new one, To Be Loved, chases its tail a bit more, breaking toward smarmier pop territory with the awkward shuffle of the title track, the grandiose electricity and anthemic determination of ‘Innocent Maneuvers,â?� and generally too much earnest energy throughout. The contemplative awe of Luminaria finally resurfaces in the slow gait of ‘Simple Girl,â?� where Moore stops waving frantically to be noticed and allows the listener to come to him. But here it’s the odd moment out.

This article appears in Aug 15-21, 2007.