REVIEWSDoug Paisley, ‘Constant Companion’

8

• SPIN Rating:8 of 10

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    Spotify

Release Date: October 12, 2010
Label: No Quarter

Constant Companion sounds like the latter, an interior monologue of frustrated epigrams. "Who would be so cruel to someone like you / No one but you," Paisley sighs over a slow-rolling backbeat. Throughout, he's stoically resigned to bearing burdens rather than letting them go, while the music is spectral and float-away dreamy--Feist contributes solemnly reserved vocals on the duet "Don't Make Me Wait" and even Garth Hudson's keyboards sound lightly brushed.

But Companion sustains a quiet, hypnotic dignity, especially since the catharsis of release never arrives.