Reciprocator

Somebody did Jake Sunding wrong, pierced his heart with a suicide stiletto, and herein are the lessons, rants and grousing of 10 years of picking up the pieces. Sure, we have enough broken human records to keep distilleries open for a thousand years, why another? The Sunday Show combines a clever ear with a penchant for effective borrowing. He doesn’t have the strongest voice (what heartbroken rockers outside of the Buckleys do?), so the production has to work harder to get heard beyond the last barstool. Influences from ‘90s alternative to a more classic-leaning rock appear in the pairing of “Angeline” and “Fade Away,” mid-album highlights. “Fade Away”’s tightly compressed guitar blends with the boomy vocal for a haunting effect, a bedroom studio masterpiece. “If the Axe Falls in My Sleep” starts with a quirky Gene Ween/Tiny Tim staccato and bridges with a brief Morrison-esque monologue and works perfectly. Reciprocator’s strongest point is masterful sequencing, many of the song clusters producing excellent suites of melancholy.