Studio geeks are truly a breed apart. These are the folks who find joy in toiling away in the control booth after the tape has rolled and the musicians have put away their instruments. Taking a near-perverse pleasure in agonizing over the minutiae behind the music, no album would be the same without these talented individuals culling away all of the dross that threatens to drown a song. And more than any other aspect of John Ralston’s new album Sorry Vampire, it’s the production work that takes center stage. Entering the studio with a wide array of sound-making devices and a slew of catchy folk-pop songs, Ralston and co-producers Michael Seamen and Jon Wilkins carved out a rich, deep album that manages to avoid sounding overly ambitious or over-produced. Admittedly, with the album being released on Vagrant Records, it’s full of songs about girls, but Ralston’s musicianship shines throughout, specifically on tracks like “The Only Evidence,” “Lessons I & II,” and “Second Hand Lovers.” Inevitably, the beauty of Sorry Vampire is that while but it is truly a dense and sonically thick album, it still rings light on a listener’s ears.
-- Adam P. Newton
