There's a good reason singer-songwriter Alex Bevan sounds so natural on his new acoustic album: He's been doing this for 40 years. Bevan is an old-fashioned songwriter who writes about taking off without a care ("Road to Montreal") and waxes eloquently about love's many trials and tribulations ("Cages"). He mixes things up on Fly Away: The bluesy "Song" sounds like Tom Waits, and "Living Rooms" recalls the late new-age guitarist Michael Hedges. On "Song," Bevan sounds downright sinister as he sings, "I am the spirit that makes the world begin." It's a bit out of character for the likable troubadour, but he manages to pull it off. Recorded over a two-day period at Painesville's Suma Recording, Fly Away strikes all the right acoustic tones. But you won't mistake Bevan's gruff, room-filling voice and full-bodied guitar work for the sparse sound found on stripped-down records like Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. — Niesel
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