Alex Michaud

The two roads meeting on this album are Alex Michaud and Dave Krusch, and the album they make at the crossroads is full of life and energy. This is an attention-grabbing collection of folk/rock that hooked me from the very first track. Michaud brings his soulful, Tracy Chapman-like vocals and percussive style of acoustic guitar, and Krusch provides the kind of percussion that doesn’t just keep the beat, it provides atmosphere and spine-tingling vibes.

These songs are earthy and warm, which is why the image of sandal-clad feet on the disc is so appropriate. Like the folksters who preceed them, they lash out in one track against prejudice and ignorance on the aggressive, pulsing “Free World.” They get downright tribal with the drumbeats on “Old City Street.” They also provide a simple, jaunty, romantic song called “So Good.” (However, on this one, they can’t resist mixing in the lyric “I’m missing you to death.” They wouldn’t be The Tell if they didn’t pause for a moment to visit the dark side.)

The two standouts for me are the reggae-ish yet haunting “Who Am I?” and the beautifully melancholy and bluesy “The Prince.” The Tell doesn’t provide the lyrics with their CD, but I found myself more absorbed in the music, which lives and breathes on every track. This is a band I really do need to see live. I have no excuse since they live just up the road in Chapel Hill. I’d wear sandals, but I have the feeling I’ll need something comfortable to dance in, judging by the way my foot was tapping throughout this CD. - Jennifer Layton