Singer/songwriter Meredith Bragg is incontestably well read, but his greatest gift is the conversational subtlety with which he weaves an educational tale. Like his hyper-literate contemporaries the Decemberists and their frontman Colin Meloy, Bragg would rather pour over history books than his own personal diary. But instead of Meloy's theatricality, Bragg adopts the earnestness of Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard, with only acoustic guitar strums and his steady voice -- a stipulation of his entire LP Silver Sonya -- to communicate chronicles of times past.

On "Plinian" Bragg tells the tragic story of the legendary volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79 through the eyes of Pliny the Younger, an Ancient Roman writer whose famed uncle and namesake Pliny the Elder died in the explosions. Passing references to the Elder's naval career and Pliny's friend, the historian Tacitus, are fascinating, but the catastrophic imagery of billowing smoke, ash falling like snow and raining stones when "fires lit the Naples Bay" are universally devastating. And though he thought the "Gods enraged," Bragg sounds only mournful as his spectral coos lament the city's demise, proving that "Plinian" isn't your average sleep-inducing history class, but a sorrowful, melodic yarn. Meredith Bragg's Silver Sonya begins burning Dec. 12 via the Kora label. 

Now Hear This: Meredith Bragg - "Plinian" DOWNLOAD MP3

On the Web:
Meredith Bragg at MySpace
meredithbragg.com

Talk: Will "Plinian" make Meredith Bragg hot like lava?