Dropping the Writ
Label: Domino
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Dropping the Writ
“That’s That,” the lead single from Dropping the Writ, includes a remark about “a job cleaning toilets in Baltimore” and a bass line that you could teach your cat to play. The track is nonetheless the kind of lovely, no-frills pop that the Chicago songwriter is capable of writing; here he delivers on the truckload of Smiths comparisons that followed his PREfection in 2005, but charm is infrequent on his latest record. The songs on Dropping the Writ suffer from a lack of catchiness, rarely resonating like “That’s That” does. PREfection’s catchy “Equinox,” “Sacred Heart” and “City of Brotherly Love” bear the mark of a strong singer, with pencil-thin guitar lines and vocals that almost get washed away in a likable post-production tide of ’80s-era reverb. McCombs successfully explores other interests on Dropping, notably bare, melancholy folk on “Full Moon or Infinity” and “Pregnant Pause,” but “Wheel of Fortune” spins on forever in a way that might even push Pat Sajak into retirement. Let’s hope not. That show would be unwatchable without Sajak.
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 6, 2007.