COMMERCIAL APPEAL (Memphis TN) (August 18, 2001)

Around the Margins - Doug Hoekstra (Inbetweens)  ***1/2 (out of possible 4)

Lest you think Nashville is populated only by Shania wannabees like Cyndi Thomson, the same city also gives us -- albeit, via Chicago -- Doug Hoekstra.  Hoekstra, who has recorded three other albums of smart, quirky modern folk music, has this time made a musical statement that ranks with the year's best.

Hoekstra is a folkie in the Suzanne Vega (post Tom's Diner) and Bedck vein -- intensely song-oriented but musically experimental in ways that Dylan never dreamt of when he dared to plug in.  Hoekstra pays the obligatory homage to Dylan with the album's sole cover, a version of the lovely Isis from "Desire," played with an underlying wash of trumpet and woodwinds.  On his own tuens, Hoekstra employs unusual sounds, counterpoint melodies and dissonance to give his songs an edge.  To the credit of Hoekstra and his producers Jeff Kowalkowski and George Marinelli, these effects never overtake the material but spotlight it.

At his lyrical best, as on That's Where He Was Living or Black and White Memories, Hoekstra recalls Vic Chestnutt or, straight to the source, Leonard Cohen.   though he can be a little too ambiguous, he rarely fails to find at least one image ("His father's face was worn / Creases like the deepest valley / His back was as hard as granite / And his eyes as black as alleys") or phrase ("Laminate man, laminate man / Hipper than thou laminate man") that sticks with you after the track ends.

Occasionally, you find yourself admiring Hoekstra more than actually enjoying him, but respect will do when the material is this joyfully new and challenging.

(review by Mark Jordan)

Return to Press