CD Review
by Christopher Arnott - New Haven Advocate
Cousins attempts several pop styles on this engaging... showcase of his considerable singer-songwriter talents. I can hear traces of a lot of middle-brow balladeers, from Marc Cohn to Springsteen at his most sensitive, and some tender melodies are confounded and commercialized with unfortunate studio hi-jinks.
Cousins is best when he slows down and lets his gentle voice resonate, as on "Broken Man" and "Best Friend." That soft, confessional style, augmented with simple, direct guitar chords, works far better than the artificial textures of "Richest Man in the World" or "When I Hear Your Voice," which seem to aspire to some '80s new-wave nirvana that Cousins, at this juncture, is incapable of creating. Live, I imagine that his heartfelt, up-close stuff would be killer. And his lyrical reflections on heartbreak (the prevailing theme of this disc) make him seem like a genuinely sensitive, interesting guy--who can't seem to hold onto a relationship.
Hilary Cousins performs Sept. 6 at The Space in Hamden, CT with Rane, Shellye Valauskas, Jonnie Proud, Jennifer Greer and The Lottery.
