DENISON WITMER > Carry the Weight

Most twee-folk singers romanticize childhood to some extent, but Denison Witmer takes arrested development to uncomfortable extremes. His lilting, gentle tunes so mirror the pace of lullabies, his lyrics the simplicity of nursery rhymes, that it’s not hard to imagine him clinging to a security blanket and sucking his thumb between takes.Label: THE MILITIA GROUP
[Rating: 2 STARS]

Most twee-folk singers romanticize childhood to some extent, but Denison Witmer takes arrested development to uncomfortable extremes. His lilting, gentle tunes so mirror the pace of lullabies, his lyrics the simplicity of nursery rhymes, that it’s not hard to imagine him clinging to a security blanket and sucking his thumb between takes. Even in a rare moment when Witmer suggests adult sexuality on his latest album, Carry The Weight, he does so by singing of drinking breast milk. There may be a genuinely interesting album to be made exploring this grown man’s infantile fixations, but Witmer’s tiny, whimpered songs lack the self-awareness-let alone the ambition-to dig below the surface. The best Carry The Weight can do is capture the feeling of flipping through a child’s picture book after popping a couple Ambien.