About Guitar Dream

A quasi-breakup album voiced through a protean pastiche of dejected characters, this new record sees David Vassalotti at his most up-front and confessional. Vassalotti's guitar and songwriting work in Merchandise is much more apparent on this album compared to his last record, 2015's omni-genre and collage-heavy Broken Rope. On Guitar Dream, he channels some of Merchandise's melancholic post-punk balladry, but this record maintains a decidedly bleaker and more literary tone.

Fractured glam, keyboard trumpets and, yes, the occasional guitar solo prop up Vassalotti's fragile voice throughout the album's 10 tracks. In the tradition of other ambitious loners, fans of Leonard Cohen, Tim Buckley, Cass McCombs and Franco Battiato will find much to love here.