As much as you might think you miss Elliott Smith, Peasant’s Damien DeRose misses him more, and made a record to prove it. On the Ground, DeRose’s second album under the Peasant name, so faithfully captures Smith’s acoustic melancholy – DeRose also does a mean impression of Smith’s butterfly tenor – that it borders on necrophilia. Thankfully, DeRose is nowhere near as depressed as Smith was, so while his songs may seem sad, they’re not bleak. Indeed, there is a dash of Shins-style whimsy sprinkled throughout the proceedings that keep the album from venturing into downer territory. The end result is an album that’s pretty, but slight. If it contained more songs like “Stop for Her,” which could easily pass for a bonus track from Smith’s Figure 8, we’d be talking about something truly special. (LABEL: Paper Garden 2008)
