Dylan LeBlanc: Cast The Same Old Shadow

Dylan LeBlanc
Cast The Same Old Shadow
(Rough Trade)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

“I love it when music puts me in a melancholy mood,” says Dylan LeBlanc in the publicity material for his sophomore album “…and I want to give people that feeling too.” Mission accomplished as these lovely, occasionally bleary but beautifully written and produced songs roll by like wheat fields on a cross country trek. Much of this, especially the intermittent orchestrations, seems heavily influenced by Neil Young’s Buffalo Springfield classic “Expecting to Fly” if it was sung by Richie Furay. The 22 year old’s hushed whisper of a voice dissolves into the somewhat rambling tunes, leaving plenty of doe-eyed, poignant, country/folk in its wake. This is mood music, so little jumps out as the songs melt together. But a little goes a long way and by about the seventh languid track, the once enticing dreaminess turns overly similar and becomes more glum than gleaming.