The rain that will come turns land into sea for a time (Becky Came By)

During one week in May, 2006 more than twenty inches of rain fell on the north shore of Massachusetts. Rivers burst their edges, pouring through streets and pooling in empty fields. Even weeks later trees could be seen sticking out of newly formed marshes. Whole sections of land had changed, becoming new environments. The world had transformed in the blink of an eye. Then, when the water had receded, it was as if nothing had ever happened.

The mystery of the natural world, its movements and rhythms flow through the music of Dave Colohan. His latest flight as the ?Agitated Radio Pilot,? ?Your Turn to Go At It Alone? is the first release on his newly created label Rusted Rail. The album is split between two 3-inch cds and housed in a miniature handmade gatefold sleeve. ?Your Turn?? runs the gamut between spectral Current 93-style folk, Harold Budd-esque electro/acoustic compositions, but maintains Colohan?s unique, striking musical vision. It?s the attention to detail here, the perfect balance of instrumentation and space that make these songs seem so open and simultaneous mysterious. His choices, the reverb electric guitar lines on ?Becky Came By,? reminiscent of Don Peris? work on early ?Innocence Mission? records, are simple and haunting. Likewise, little surprises, such as the shuffling wooden percussion on ?We Can?t Last,? provide contrasting tones for Colohan?s simple folk melodies and allow these songs to stand out from the standard singer/songwriter, avant-folk flavor-of-the-week. This song in particular seems to be a cousin of Bill Fay?s work on his opus ?Time of the Last Persecution,? with its slow, textured guitar solo and percussive piano figures.

Lyrically Colohan pulls a common thread through these tracks, focusing on relationships that have crumbled, unfulfilled love, and loneliness. However, ?Last Ride,? the album?s most fully-realized song, diverges from the subject matter of the other tracks. Instead of focusing on individual relationships, here Colohan turns his melancholy gaze toward the forest, and transforms it into microcosm of humanity?s charge against the tide. The song?s lyrics are full of detailed images, beautiful little portraits of life trembling against death. The instrumentation is absolutely gorgeous, especially when a lonely flute soars over the guitar line during the chorus. It is the single best thing I?ve heard all year.

The tag ?loner folk? has been thrown around when discussing this album and a lot of Colohan?s back catalogue but there doesn?t seem to be very much self-indulgence here, even though many of the tracks are deeply personal. Instead Colohan seems to have a preternatural sense of the elemental, those dark places we all go to take off our disguises. So many artists have treaded this ground before and seemed insincere, but Colohan?s vulnerability, his human voice that presents these unadorned truths without spin or motive, makes me want to listen and believe. 9/10 -- Jamie Townsend (10 July, 2006)