David Grubbs - An Optimist Notes the Dusk

We haven't heard a full-length from David Grubbs the solo artist in a little more than four years; he's spent his time issuing the odd EP here and there, appearing with Red Krayola, and making guest appearances on others recordings. An Optimist Notes The Dusk contains six tracks that clock in at a bit over 37 minutes, and the Grubbs on display here is the writer of art songs rather than the rampant free-form experimentalist, with one exception: 'Not So Distant,' the album's final and longest cut. For most of this set, Grubbs relies on his idiosyncratic sense of melody and accompanies himself on guitar with a drum kit on three cuts and a muted trumpet on two others.