Erasing Clouds

Review of I Am A Conjuror

I Am a Conjuror opens with two infectious songs delivered in true oddball style. Over loud, ridiculous-sounding synthesizers that are straight out of the cheesiest 80s song you've ever heard, Isnor woos an unnamed listener with the promise of an outer space ride and confesses that he just robbed a liquor store. Both of those songs are goofy and weird; equally odd is how easily they win you over, how endearing even the most songs' corniest parts are.

A couple songs later, Isnor shows he can use those same cheesy keyboards to more sublime purposes, crafting a pretty, psychedelic bliss-out ("High Five"), as well as to even more bizarre ones, like making an instrumental in the style of the Beverly Hills Cop theme song.

As the album progresses, Isnor occasionally throws away the keyboards to reveal another occupation: traveling folk singer, guitar in hand. His take on folk is appropriately warped and tongue-in-cheek, even as he channels traditional down-on-your-luck themes ("Song for New Scotland").

An unconventional songwriter to say the least, Isnor is constantly taking ridiculously set pieces from music I hate and using it to make music I like, mostly by staying somehow sincere even while he pulls your chain. He's purposely enigmatic and weird, yet also continually takes that veneer away just enough to show that he's truly talented (at playing guitar and writing hooks, especially). "I'm not a person anymore, as if I ever was before," he sings on the relaxed, jazzy "I'm Not a Person Anymore." It's a song that's puzzling, touching and goofy, like everything on I Am a Conjuror.

Author: Dave Heaton

2003-04-01