AA Bondy: Believers – review

Not a man given to shouting when he can whisper, Alabama native Auguste Arthur Bondy has crafted a sublime set of quietly seductive alt-country-influenced melancholia for his third solo album. Treading a path between Wilco at their most introspective and the spare style of Cat Power, Bondy gives his songs plenty of room to breathe, the results being quite often spellbinding, particularly so on the achingly slow "Drmz" and motorik opener "The Heart is Willing". "Surfer King", meanwhile, sounds like an undiscovered Motown gem, albeit one delivered at half-speed.