Peter Katz is a sensitive singer songwriter type with an oh-so-lovely breathy smooth singing voice and a heartfelt delivery. The album is so well produced that it sounds like Katz and his band are right in front of you. It's all gentle acoustic guitar, piano and percussion with the occasional cello, violin or trumpet thrown in to help the listener distinguish between tracks. The songs are very personal tales of longing and/or waiting marinated in self-pity, even when he adopts other personas such as in The Fence (a homophobia victim), and Oliver's Tune (a leukemia victim). Katz knows that the title track has the strongest melody and has roped in Glen Hansard (oscar winner and erstwhile frontman of underrated The Frames) for his vocals and name. It could well be a hit.
If you're bursting with yearning and sweetness you may be able to relate to First Of The Last To Know better than me. In this regard, it's a perfectly realized collection of songs. Either Katz is the nicest man in the world or he purposely excludes any thoughts and emotions that aren't cuddle-worthy. It's all too easy to imagine the songs as background accompaniment to the summing up wisdom voice-overs on Scrubs or One Tree Hill and the like. I don't doubt the sincerity which he wears on his sleeve, but the album is so incessantly pensive and nice that it began to irritate me. The press release states that 'Katz' songs, carried by his passionate, intimate voice, guide us through the gamut of human experience.' Well if that's the gamut of his human experience, he really needs to get out more.
For acoustic introspection fans *****
Everyone else **
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