The Richmond, Virginia-based National Lights is ostensibly the songwriting project of Jacob Thomas Berns, ably aided and abetted oh his debut full length by arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Chris Kiehne and the lovely wistful harmonies of Sonya Maria Cotton. Berns? breathy, semi-whispered vocal delivery is very reminiscent of 70?s folky heartthrob, Dan Fogelberg and belies the gruesome nature of these tales of murder and mayhem ? call it Gothic Americana. The hero of opener, ?Better For It, Kid? is in the midst of burying his murdered lover, the protagonist of ?Mess Around? contemplates killing the young girl he?s fooling around with, and the title track is about necrophagia (?I was eating your body and bones?). And that?s just the first three tracks!

Despite all the instruments listed in the credits (various keyboards, lap-steel, e-bow and other guitars, bells, banjos, et. al.), most of the tracks clock in within the two-minute range and feature just Berns accompanied by his gently strummed acoustic guitar. As a result, the minimal accoutrements such as the soft organ fill and delicate electric guitar on the title track actually serve to strengthen Kiehne?s arrangements and Berns? presentation, rather than burying everything in a deluge of electronics. Thus, the mourning lap-steel on ?O, Ohio? adds to the melancholic atmosphere of this tale of leaving home in the Midwest and searching for fame and fortune in the big city: ?From Ohio/We?ll point 80 east toward the ocean.? ?Buried Treasure? kicks up its heels a few notches for a lovely strumalong, humalong folk pop ditty (about murdering a lover, naturally!) that?s perhaps the album?s strongest track and a good way to introduce your friends to Berns and his friends.

Recorded predominantly in the homes of various friends, a church and a garden in Towson, Maryland, the atmosphere throughout is close, intimate and friendly, as if the band were entertaining at a family barbecue and just whipped out the acoustic guitar to roll of a few numbers for the road as the sun sets and the charcoals change to flickering embers. Either that, or Berns is whispering softly to keep hush-hush about the gruesome bodies he?s buried under the pig roast!

One of the year?s finest revelations and certainly one of the best releases in the first half of 2007, this is a quiet and contemplative record that, despite its subject matter, is highly recommended to fans of 70?s folk singer/songwriters like Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor and Jackson Brown as well as contemporary Americana acolytes, such as Devendra Banhart, Sufjan Stevens, Mountain Goats (aka John Darnielle), and Timothy Renner, whose murder ballads and dark folk efforts with the Spectral Light & Moonshine Firefly Snakeoil Jamboree and Black Happy Day, respectively, would make great companion pieces to this collection. 10/10 -- Jeff Penczak (31 July, 2007)