Test Spins: Draw the Curtain

Will Hoge begins Draw the Curtains with the lyrics, “Two years, three months and five days.” But Hoge begins the album by singing, “Two years, three months and five day-ay-zzzz-ahh-ha!” It’s that annoying affect of affliction that too many “soulful” singers suffer from: the heightened breathy type of whiny-whimpery-crying groan thing. It’s supposed to be a little flare, like frosting on a cake, stressing the artist’s emotion. Michelle Branch suffers from the same disease when she sings, “Turn it inside out so I can see-ee-eugh-ya-ah.”
Lucky for Hoge, there is cake beneath the frosting: “Sex, Lies and Money” is a great country tune; his lyrics are good and his voice is solid. Even so, there’s too much sense that Hoge is the kind of singer who really wants you to read his lyrics — not listen and just enjoy, but really get to know him. He wants to be loved as a tortured soul. Or maybe his record company wants to sell him as a tortured soul. Regardless, I’m just not buying.