Before But Longer

Given that Denver-based five-piece the Czars are so deeply marked by a sense of good taste and musical adventure, it makes great sense that they should have been signed to a label founded by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins. The voice of singer John William Grant is an exceptionally moving cross between Michael Stipe and American Music Club's Mark Eitzel, possessed of an innocence and clarity not often heard since the Sixties and psychedelic folk--or at least since Michael Murphey. Bella Union. 2006.