Summer at Shatter Creek

With a whisper of a voice, Craig Gurwich, the lone member of Summer at Shatter Creek, spins sedate tales of loneliness and obsession on the remote and affecting All the Answers. Singing like a postmodern Art Garfunkel, Gurwich specializes in the unexpected and infuses songs with just enough pulse to keep them from vanishing in the loftiness of his tone. On the gorgeous title track, an out-of-place organ and electric guitar spice up the moment as Gurwich sets the tone: "Trust your instincts not your eyes and you'll see/That you should pay more attention to me." Never emerging out of the darker areas of self-pity, Gurwich can, at times, teeter dangerously close to a depression that borders on pretense. What really saves the effort is the catchiness of the slow-moving songs. Hooks have rarely been this tranquil. In his searching, soft tenor, Gurwich succeeds on All the Answers without offering any solutions. It's all questions and concerns, guilt and remorse, the truth as he sees it.