There is no question that Paul Sprawl knows how to handle things atmospheric. The likable Californian songwriter achieves his enormous variety of expression almost entirely through the use of his voice and a monster guitar with loosely rattling strings which would normally bring sweat to any sound engineer’s brow. For Paul Sprawl’s music, however, it is difficult to imagine a more suitable accompaniment. His songs tell the tale of lonely, outcast and left over people, the involuntary heroes of that side of human existence, who are not worthy of glossy presentation. His album “Blue Suitcase” is arranged in such a withdrawn manner, that one could almost use the word ‘thin’, were it not for the amazing mixture of intimacy and distance. His songs drift by like low-lying clouds in an endlessly blue sky, stretching over an equally boundless desert panorama. Paul Sprawl: vocals, acoustic & distortion guitar / Tom Meshishnek: ambient guitars, distorted ambient guitar / Viktor Krauss: bass / LT: percussion / Noe Venable: additional vocals / Scott Amendola: drums, percussion / Jenny Scheinman: violin / Lee Alexander: bass / David Zasloff: shakuhachi
