Alexi Murdoch Time Without Consequence CD

After appearing on the soundtrack to the hit TV show The OC, Alexi Murdoch could have easily followed Death Cab for Cutie onto the major label merry-go-round and let a bevy of A&R folks shape him into Next Big Thinghood. Instead, the Scottish singer/songwriter's self-released debut full-length bears haunting similarities to the likes of Nick Drake's Pink Moon, hardly the way to mainstream stardom no matter how many car commercials it inspires. Nearly a third of the album will be familiar to those who already have Murdoch's 2004 EP Four Songs, three-quarters of which is reprised here, including "Orange Sky," the aforementioned small-screen favorite. ("It's Only Fear" is the sole track that didn't make the leap, insuring collector-geek status for the EP.) The remaining eight songs are, in the best possible sense, more of the same, and in the case of the first single "Dream About Flying" and the haunted opener "All My Days," they surpass the older songs. Murdoch's murmuring, Drake-like vocals and John Martyn-style acoustic guitar are at the forefront of the album, with only the most minimal accompaniment. Detractors might dismiss Time Without Consequence as the work of a Cat Stevens for the Garden State generation, but there's a always a place for hushed intimacy and delicate folk-pop singer/songwriters, and Alexi Murdoch fills the bill without the mewling self-absorption of the emo contingent. ~ Stewart Mason

Recording information: Sage And Sound, Los Angeles, CA; Studio A.

Photographer: Alexi Murdoch.

Personnel: Alexi Murdoch (guitar, slide guitar, piano, harmonium, organ, keyboards, snare drum, cymbals, tambourine); Alexi Murdoch (guitars); Greg Leisz (guitar, pedal steel guitar); Marvin Etzioni (mandolin); Zac Rae (keyboards, vibraphone); Brett Simons (double bass, electric bass); Al Sgro (drums, background vocals); Pete Thomas (tom tom); Sophie Barker (background vocals); Joel Shearer (guitar, shaker, background vocals); Ben Peeler (lap steel guitar); Oliver Kraus (cello); Deron Johnson (Fender Rhodes piano); Jay Bellerose (drums, tambourine, percussion); Jim Keltner, Ramy Antoun (drums); Jason McKenzie (tabla).

Audio Mixer: David Boucher.

Entertainment Weekly (p.71) - "[T]he singer's vocal affect and gentle melodies are startlingly similar to Nick Drake's..." -- Grade: B