Doug Hoekstra  / Around The Margins ***

Label: INBETWEENS -  Key Tracks: Lost Among The Ruins, Giving Up Smoking, 

Reviewed by Phil Sutcliffe

Puttering away for an hour, Doug Hoekstra's deadpan murmur gets to be rather a strain - despite quiet, clever twists of viola, clarinet, and other featured singers.   However, the album's crafted lyrics recall the clarity of the late Ian Dury. Take "Lost Among The Ruins," a perfect, plain-speaking reflection on what growing old might be like: "I can't imagine sorrow like seeing your partner die/Or living with the knowledge you're losing your own mind". Take "Giving Up Smoking's" appreciation of his wife's tribulations: "I realise this was something that was hard for her to do/For a while it changed her into someone completely new". All he needs is a tunesmith like Chaz Jankel.

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