ZapTown

Tim Williams
Careful Love
Dovecote
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Link: http://www.myspace.com/timwilliams

In order to gain a better perspective of Careful Love it is poignant to note that following his debut release When Work Is Done, Williams was admitted for intensive heart surgery where his left pulmonary valve would not be replaced.

Of course we know the ending to this story and can experience it in Careful Love, as the album’s existence rests on this major event in his life. This is not an album of joyful renewals and explosive pop overtures, nor is this an album of pure fragility in the singer/songwriter sense. Careful Love finds that happy medium between the two and gives us comfort as Williams sums it up best on the song “I Hit Another Wall” — “Life’s what you make it.”

On the forefront this may be an album about healing, but in essence, this is an album about the continuation of one’s life and the good and bad that comes with it. What you get is the wide gambit of emotions he experienced during this time. “Love Hate” is the push and pull while the Johnohn Vanderslice-like softness of “Murderous Air” is a slight social view of the inward looking out.

The progressive sense of his music goes beyond what he did with When Work Is Done. The gentle balance between electronic accents with starlit guitar pop is combined so naturally you almost forget that there is one or the other.

In the end, Williams dims the lights for a sobering dream-like acoustic number called “I Want To Die In California.” Whether it’s the New York City singer’s idea of “the grass is always greener” or his yearning for sunnier days, treating the song like California is his heaven despite all of its flaws, you cannot help but want to go back and re-explore this album and try to find that deeper meaning to it all.

There is more of a fluidity that comes with the Williams of today. And it’s a hopeful sign to the future of what hopes to be a long-spanning career for Williams.