Mr. North makes an unbecoming first impression, with “500 Miles” lost somewhere in the sad-bastard abyss. But as Lovedream plays through the pain, it emerges as a much more eclectic record, full of long, sandy, thoughtful, acoustic instrumentals and wavy-gravy group jams, some of them appropriately recorded by a campfire somehow (yes, they have the technology). In fact, the tracklisting reveals several locales (“Blinker” was recorded in a Toyota driving through Newton, MA; another was archived at a birthday party), strange only because the tracks all fit together as if they were dubbed up simultaneously. What a world, no? I could do without the wonky song titles (“Messenger of Love,” “Indian Love Call,” “The Road to Yesterday”), mind you, but on the whole, I find Lovedream to be a fairly convincing collection of North’s ruminations, registering somewhere between The Impossible Shapes’ Tum and a Bonnie “Prince” Billy record from up-yonder.
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