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HANDCUFF KING
(paulbryanmusic.com)
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Bryan is best known as a sideman. He’s played bass and sung backing vocals for Aimee Mann on stage since 1999, recorded with Graham Parker and Kate Pierson, and produced Dennis Brennan’s excellent Rule No. 1 (Esca). But this exceptional collection of beautifully played pop songs for adults, his first solo album, is overdue. Bryan’s sweet, soft-edged vocal style is perfect for these numbers about love and loss. They’re set to carefully textured arrangements that propel his lyrics along on gentle guitar and keyboard melodies — just right for the balance of loss with warm resignation that’s the disc’s emotional tone. "Houdini and Cecilia" explores the great magician’s will to contact his mother in the spirit world, but it’s actually about unquenchable longing. "I Listen to the Rain" is an insomnia-fueled contemplation of a troubled heart. There’s also a gentle, lightly swinging piano ballad reinvention of Dylan’s "I’ll Keep It with Mine." Bryan is airing these numbers in town for the first time this Saturday at the Lizard Lounge with an outfit that includes guitarist Duke Levine, bassist Greg Porter, and fellow Mann band mate drummer John Sands. (Paul Bryan appears this Saturday, January 29, at the Lizard Lounge, 1667 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, with Amy Correia; call 617-492-7679.
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