Minneapolis singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Robert Skoro crafts moving,
carefully orchestrated pop songs that tell stories and
share feelings with such heartfelt sincerity they
almost feel like your own. Featuring a calming
arrangement of guitar, piano, Wurlitzer, synthesizer,
marimba, melodica, drums and bass, among others,
Skoro's new album is a down-to-earth Sunday record to
get lost in. Opener "All the Angles" is given a
pressing, dramatic feel with heavy piano-playing and
urgent, impassioned vocals. "No one else could take
your place/ But I don't think that I/ Wanna know you
anymore," Skoro croons, his vocals sounding like a
surrender. For its minimal jangly acoustics and quiet,
slightly sneering vocals, the folk-y "Kidnapped!"
would have fit in well on Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, while "Old Friend" features
a plunging
upright bass, summery marimba and somber sentiment:
"The truth is that we haven't changed/ Makes me
wonder why we do/ Damn this world and what it hides/
In part between me and you." That These
Things..., Skoro's second album, is a stirring,
well-balanced collection of songs that are both pretty and
passionate — songs you'll be glad to have around in these troubled times.
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