The “press” section of Erich Von Kneip’s website includes links to three articles, and two of them are in German. This is pretty depressing for an album that was released a year ago, but it’s also sort of fitting; they may have been recently recorded, but the nine originals and one cover that make up A Collection of Abject Musings have the sound and feel of long-forgotten objects from a distant and perhaps imagined past. Like Tom Waits without the frog in his throat (and with Django Reinhardt standing behind him), Von Kneip leads the listener on a fairly convincing stroll down the alley behind a 1920s saloon. His sound isn’t terribly dissimilar from Andrew Bird’s, but unlike Bird, Von Kneip never seems to be mugging. Whether this is because he isn’t as concerned with making sure you hear everything he can do – or because he just can’t do that much – isn’t important; all that matters, really, is that he’s the type of guy who knows you can’t go wrong with a one-eye-open, album-closing cover of Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” He could do with more consistent original material, but hey, this is just his debut – there’s plenty of time for that. (LABEL: Bitemark 2008
