SMALL TALK (+CD)

Benjamin Dean Wilson's Small Talk is a great album: songs about aging (sung by a young man), songs about illusions and losing them, about young mothers about the teacher Mr. Green, about Rick, Jimmy and Sharon, about Nurse Hirsch a red Corvette, about the suspicious mother-in-law of a local celebrity, a nameless actor and his childhood sweetheart Sadie (she wore a boyish haircut, quite short). It's an album full of twists and surprises, full of humor and truth. Benjamin Dean Wilson has a voice that is reminiscent of Nick Lowe with songs and lyrics that recall The Magnetic Fields. Actually, it's just the other way around - Where Stephin Merritt (of The Magnetic Fields) cultivates the art of the two-to-three minute song, Wilson's songs are longer. The grand finale "Rick, I Tick Tock..." lasts for 14 minutes. The first impression: The Gaslight CafU in Greenwich Village in 1965, a few ?ber-cool Bohemians under the guidance of Ray Davies and/or Serge Gainsbourg (compare Anna (Bande Originale de la ComUdie Musicale))) anticipate the Abbey Road medley. With a closer listen, Small Talk is a musical drama in three acts, including stage directions sung out loud.