There is no secret to this. I make no bones about my affection for the music of Christensen, be it the decades prior in Zelienople to his recent prolific output as a solo artist. But it’s his noir-ish confessionals, somehow as jangly and sweet as they are dour and downtrodden, that keep pulling me into his whole body. Do You Feel Like You Can Get Through This With Me? asks tough, yet simplistic questions. It’s one person questioning another’s resolve to allow them to walk beside them — perhaps even weighing them down — as they deal with the very real and always existential that surrounds us during tough times. Christensen’s guitar playing is reflective of the mood; notes reverberating off hard surfaces in the wet streets of a town that has punished both the narrator and his nameless subject as they work to avoid the stagnation of a place and time that continues to wear them down. There may be cursory nods as Christensen reaches the intersection of Dead Man OST and the sadly defunct To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie, but make no mistake that pain and perseverance of this level is an original work despite the touchstones and familiar street signs that point the way. It’s a lonely existence, but all of us can get through it with Christensen. In fact, I don’t see how we can without him.
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