RAISING THE BAR

RICHARD SHINDELL
Not Far Now
Signature Sounds

This record may be the best release of the decade. Richard Shindell is the master of point-of-view, sometimes playing the dispassionate observer, but often inhabiting the very soul of one of his characters. In “A Juggler Out in Traffic,” he’s the holy fool entertaining the self-absorbed; in “One Man’s Arkansas” and again in “State of the Union,” he’s the American Dream gone busted and looking for the survivor’s edge. Those who caught a Shindell concert last fall may have heard him sing “Balloon Man” as a work in progress; hear it now as a finished product and you’ll understand how editing transforms goodness into greatness. Shindell wraps his poetic vision in moody, moving arrangements. Check out his cover of Dave Carter’s “The Moutain” in which he wrings emotion from minimalist piano. The thinking man’s folk singer has just raised the bar to the next level.