Wooden Wand: James & The Quiet

Over the past few years, prolific lo-fi folkie James Toth—a.k.a. Wooden Wand—has seemed on the verge of a creative breakthrough, but while James & The Quiet keenly integrates his minimalist psychedelic drone with his florid acoustic balladry, the record still feels stunted. Songs like "Invisible Children" and "Future Dream" are appealingly Bob Dylan-esque, with their resonant singsong lines and filmy lysergic overlay, and "In A Bucket" is a new anti-folk classic, with its distant twang and witty lyrics about society's "busy little bees." But if this is—as Toth insists—his last album under the Wooden Wand moniker, here's hoping that he reboots with fewer forced metaphors and a richer, catchier sound.