Jeff Runnings - Primitives and Smalls (2016)

2016 release from the veteran indie artist. The creative force behind legendary Grammy-nominated, dream-pop pioneers For Against, Jeff Runnings makes his solo debut with Primitives And Smalls. Featuring lyrics that sting and music driven by Cocteau drums and Factory synthesizers, it's like being pulled under the ice by your own tormented thoughts. Let's keep taking the low road, says Runnings on album opener "Maze," 'It's treated us well so far.' He sings with a yearning sadness, an exhausted sigh that belies the desperation at the heart of this record. Having spent most of his life in Lincoln, Nebraska, you can hear the mid-western landscape - it's endless flat, beautiful bleakness - in every note. Just check out the eerie twitching static sounds at the end of "Dim Like Dusk."