Three years ago, Skyscraper National Park heralded the arrival of Hayden Desser as heir to the mumbling miserablism of Smog’s Bill Callahan. Like the latter, Toronto-born Hayden’s nagging melodies and deadpan delivery occupy their own peculiar kingdom. His fourth LP finds him applying sonic bluster to the usual sad-slow creep. “Hollywood Ending”, for example, is a raucous tale of being caught up in a blockbuster outside his front door. Longtime collaborator Howie Beck is on board, too, though it’s the Elliott Smith-like “Home by Saturday” that steals the show: a ragged tumble of guitars, waft of steel and those exquisitely crumbled vocals.
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