Boy Gone Wrong

Album Review

Peter Galub's debut is a low-key singer/songwriter album, though more indie pop in orientation than the work of more mainstream-directed efforts lumped under the singer/songwriter category. At times he sounds a little weary and down, though not quite grim, eking out his words against slow tempos, as if he's carrying a burden of sorts. His lyrics are poetic but vague, radiating, as so many performers of this type do, the aura of a guy taking stock, looking for permanence after much drifting, eager for romance yet wary and guarded. While this does have more ambition and thoughtfulness than the typical record of this style, the series of songs with (for the most part) languid beats and yearning, slightly pained vocals does drag after a while, occasionally verging on the lugubrious. Fans of Alex Chilton and some of the more downbeat work of Billy Bragg and Gordon Gano will recognize some of the same factors at play, though this isn't as distinctive.