"Somewhere there is something breaking"

Sometimes a guitar and a voice is all you need to make an pretty damn good album. And Meredith Bragg knows this, as he deftly demonstrates how sparse instrumentation can go a long, long way on his upcoming release Silver Sonya (out December 11 on The Kora Records).

But if you're under the impression that the album is just standard acoustic singer-songwriter fair, you're wrong. Many of the songs feature eerie sonic manipulation -they are looped and filtered, sliced and diced. Bragg's vocals, however are even more effective than their instrumental underpinnings. His voice lies somewhere between a more world-weary Elliott Smith and a less nasally Ben Gibbard. "Ballad of an Opportunist" is probably just as good as anything recorded by those two aforementioned artists, displaying a fragile vulnerability and beaming warmth. It's really, really good.

Check out the album teaser as well:
Ballad of An Opportunist - Meredith Bragg (mp3 expired)