Search - Doug Hoekstra :: Waiting

Taking a pickaxe to the notion of "acoustic singer-songwriters," Hoekstra?s avante-garde Americana has caused a stir in Europe, where he tours frequently. Hailed by some of the biggest music magazines in the U.K., Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands, Hoekstra has also been shown the love by Billboard, Magnet, Uncut and Goldmine and garnered comparisons to luminaries like Elliott Smith, Joe Henry, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Vic Chesnutt and the late Nick Drake. To add to the resumé, Hoekstra has been a guest on radio shows like Acoustic Café and World Café and played with folks like Kim Richey, Jewel, John Cale, Keb? Mo, Barenaked Ladies and James McMurtry. The reasons for all the attention will be obvious on Waiting, Hoekstra?s fifth solo release and first on the brand new Paste Records. It?s rare that an artist combines such textured, literate observations about the human condition with haunting melodic counterpoint and creative arrangement touches. From the cascading mellotron that introduces the opener, "Blow Beautiful Dreams," to the drifting melodica that fades out the title track, Waiting always chooses the path less traveled, surprising the listener with musical turns and lyrical phrases. "Sunday Blues" provides an atmospheric blend of church bells, sitar, guitars and key for Hoekstra to croon over. On "Theresa," Hoekstra sings of a lost child in Sao Paolo, Brazil, accompanied by persistent loops and electric guitars, ebbing and flowing with the narrative like the ocean against the shore. The atmospheric effect of "Nighttime Rain" is so palpable that you can almost feel the mist in your face. While previous albums have involved gospel choirs, string quartets and avant-garde horn sections, the 12 songs on Waiting were recorded in Hoekstra?s home studio, cutting, as he writes in the liner notes, "right through to the heart of the material that dug deeper than anything I?d done before." Aided by friend and collaborator George Marinelli (Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby, James Taylor), the result is a quiet, but deeply layered folk record with a rock vibe that has nothing to do with "folk rock." Despite Hoekstra?s wonderfully nuanced melodies, this is not an album meant to be background noise. Find a time to really listen and let yourself get swept into Hoekstra?s five-minute worlds.