Bitter Honey
What's the difference between an Eef solo album and a Clem Snide set? IfBitter Honeyis any evidence, then the difference is simply the extra characters. Peripatetic across his many narrative characters, Barzelay shifts shapes continuously. He starts as a "press my breasts together and arch my back" groupie hanging out with Ludacris and Nelly. And he moves through a lo-fi voiced, a.m. radio singer meditating on love and beauty. He's a minimalist here, finger-picking solemnly, and a declarative, empathizing outcast when the object of his affection is outdrinking him ("You see I wasn't really drunk, I was just pretending / Because I wanted so much to feel the way you do," Barzelay intones on "I Wasn't Really Drunk"). You'd buy this album for the same reason you buy Robyn Hitchcock, for the observations, sardonic-ism, and sarcasm--not to mention Eef's singular, strained voice.-Andrew Bartlett