Choochtown

After parting with Mercury, Ed Hamell returned to his indie roots for Choochtown, a lo-fi tumble through the urban jungle and its cast of drug dealers, blackmailers, and small-time thugs. It's not, strictly speaking, a concept album, but it comes close: The same characters and settings weave in and out of songs, with Hamell's knack for original storytelling allowing us to see events from different points of view. Musically, he covers the same ground here as on his two major-label albums -- half-spoken, half-sung torrents of lyrics over fleet-fingered guitar accompaniment -- but the rough-edged production makes Choochtown a different kind of listening experience from either Big as Life or The Chord Is Mightier Than the Sword. Hamell breaks out of his pattern of cool observation on the more personal "I'm Gonna Watch You Sleep" and "Bill Hicks," which are among the poppier numbers here, but it's his mystery-novelist-like ability to get inside the head of his troubled characters on "Judy" and "The Lottery" that's at the heart of Choochtown's power. This isn't the album those new to Hamell on Trial should start with, but it's a worthy addition to his catalog, especially for listeners coming to Hamell from a non-mainstream musical background. ~ Kenneth Bays