Leif Vollebekk: North Americana

Can't say we know that much about Montreal's Leif Vollebekk. You don't want to. There's a mystery here - a lonesome Sal Paradise meets Llewyn Davis figure traveling the country singing these plaintive ballads to half-full rooms in the middle of the plains somewhere. While the artist may not abide, or even enjoy, our romantic Kerouac-ian picture of him - Vollebekk's album North Americana paints these pictures sonically with ruminative piano lines, softly strummed guitars and a vocal delivery floating between Buckley and Morrison. It's these charms that have kept us coming back to the album for weeks, and likely weeks to come.