Richard Album gives and he gives and he gives. It's the pathological self-demand of a social perfectionist: he can never give enough and no accolade could ever convince him he has. The pain of empathy moves his pen across the page and his fingers across the fretboard, as the Blues moved through like souls to build rock'n'roll.

Young fans love him. His performances have expressed their desires and little agonies. They come to hear his poetic retelling of their experiences. But Richard doesn't write as their peer. His minutely observed, biting turns of phrase come from a scrupulously disciplined mind. Richard the artist has always kept himself at a distance.

Richard Goes Cold is the sound of a man who finds himself trapped in that distance, out in the cold. Young fans who come to see him now see the ghostly exhaustion in his eyes. That's if he's fighting it and doesn't simply walk offstage, his gaze affixed on some private unattainable ideal, as happened one night I nearly saw him and the Singles perform at the Chicago Ballroom.

This album joins Goodbye Cruel World, Blood on the Tracks, and Station to Station as another unedited document of an untiring artist getting tired -- not of his work but of the pain driving it. Perhaps in giving us this record Richard Album will gain a distancing perspective on that pain. But don't worry, Richard; and don't worry, Album fans: Richard Goes Cold has enough worn empathy and rock'n'roll energy to be, well, if not perfect, close enough.

- Derek Ryan Hain
Former Editor, Shrapnel Music Review

THIS ALBUM WAS RECORDED AT PINKY SWEAR AND NEIGHBORING LOCATIONS FROM DECEMBER 2014 UNTIL FEBRUARY 2016.