Peter Walker
Landed
On Sale Now
For $8.98

Peter Walker doesn’t come across as someone who grew up spending hours in his bedroom, copping Jimmy Page riffs. He was a kid who learned to play just enough guitar to write a song about the girl who broke his heart. On "I’m Through," the opening track of his album Landed, he does just that. Repeating the lines "I tried to give up all I have for you/but I'm through" over a minimalist chord progression, Walker uses a bare bones arrangement to strike a first-round blow to the listener's gut.

But unlike many of his singer-songwriter predecessors, who had enough reserves of bile to fill catalogs of music, Walker’s demons are quickly exorcised. By the second song, he has given up the choking guitar parts and snarling vocals in favor of a lilting backbeat and gently pleading lyrics.

A rare trait among young artists, Walker is a levelheaded romantic. He is compelling because he has little patience for false angst. In an age of fashionable cynicism, he isn't embarrassed to wear his heart on his sleeve without an ironic smirk. The growls and cracks in his voice are not practiced techniques; they're natural imperfections that make his singing unaffected and human.

As Landed progresses, Walker grows introspective and explores dream-pop territory. Most effectively, he does so on "Pluto," which uses a keyboard, an instrument increasingly present as the album nears its end, to support a bouncy and funny tale of a disappointing trip to the ninth planet.

On "Easy Road," the album's last track, he tells a story of finding a song dropped to earth from outer space. In the song's final verses, he sings these other worldly lyrics to his listeners:

Don't forget about your past
Never take the easy road
If you want something to last

I would have expected more insight from the heavens, but perhaps this was an alien B-side. Still, although the thoughts are not overly illuminating, they form a confident and welcomed coda to an album that begins with self-loathing and hopelessness. Listening to Walker's relaxed delivery throughout the second half of Landed made me wish at times that he wasn't as well-adjusted as he seems to be. But what really matters is that Walker is honest about who he is and has the courage not to fake a darker side. The record industry could use more of that honesty.

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