Jeff Klein - 'The Hustler' (One Little Indian) Released 10/04/06

"Liquid sin, take a bath in it." - thus Jeff Klein wraps up his experience of living and recording in New Orleans. 'The Hustler' - Jeff's third album, is an album suffused with the ambiance, the heat and sensuality of this mysterious city and its people; a city where Jeff says - "...the only city in the whole world where a guy can get laid for playing the tuba.". 'The Hustler' is an album where the musical credentials are laid bare - no filth or frolics, interpersonal songwriting as though lifted from a diary are delivered by the husky-voiced, mop-topped and whiskey-clenching Jeff, that whilst difficult to neatly bracket, perhaps is left to Jeff's description as 'Southern Gothic R&B' taking in Americana and U.S. soft-rock.

Title track 'The Hustler' features fine-tuned guitar with steel guitar accompaniment, the lusty line with breathy- vocals "...she's shaking her hips/ and promising she'll make me cum/ so i come...", the nocturnal excursions of sleeping through the days and wandering nights given minimal props or musical devices. The tempo is lifted to motion by 'Nearly Motionless' and 'Stripped' - rocking good tracks to drive to, given U.S. soft-rock leanings; 'Ironside' tempers with a mogadon-pace and stripped-sound like a grungy Damien Rice - "...and so we drink/ 'till we get sick/ because anything feels better than being this paralysed...". 'All I Want' delivers the confessional with Spanish-styled guitar and distant muted-trumpet, a longing for someone to mirror the depth of feeling revealed in the writing - "...I want eyes that cut like diamonds/ to see through all my fears/...and thread to sew my heart/ when it's bursting at the seams/ and all i want is you.", the lyricism matched by the musical artistry.

'Pity' proves a grittier topic with vocal accompaniment from Ani di Franco, programming giving texture and ambiance while Jeff delivers "...how about another pity ****/ before you fall asleep/ I'll promise you forever but its a promise i can't keep...", the relationship on tender hooks as the lies erode. 'The Red Lantern' has some of the best hooks plus guest vocals from Dave Pirner of 'Soul Asylum', some fantastic imagery in the songwriting and the confessional conclusion - "...giving in not given an out/ i can't bring myself to shout/ but i would rather live in sin/ than live without...", bellowed from Jeff's lungs.

With a narrative seam running through 'The Hustler' documenting like a journal, 'The Hustler' has an honesty and artistry that demands exposure. The song-topics and the atmosphere evoked by the music combine to act like a pressure-valve for the urbane psyche - things don't explode, but they bubble away. It's very much a masculine experience yet has the earnestness and gutsiness to gather wider appeal. With tours scheduled with other One Little Indian'stablemates Sandy Dillon and Robert Love - Jeff's star looks to be in the ascendant.