I endeavor to be an open-minded critic (quite a misnomer, I'm sure). When I got a copy of Couch Songs by Peter Searcy, I mentally prepared myself in the fact that although he was in bands that I loved (Squirrel Bait, Big Wheel), I had to listen to this disc without thinking about those bands and take it at face value. I envisioned it like going to see a band I liked who had an opening act I had never heard of before.

I think I did just fine because regardless of what Searcy has done in the past, I found this album to be a crashing bore.

By and large there's nothing wrong with the approach that Searcy is going for now: a plaintive sound using the idioms of folk and light pop to back his sad songs of love and loss. But there's nothing to these songs at all. They are weightless, without substance, and marked with lyrics suited for open mic nights at coffeehouses. In spite of Searcy's fine singing voice and musicianship (piano, guitar and cello), he leaves himself high and dry at every turn.