Waterloo Records

Reviews:

Eric Bachmann plays with shadows and light with a Renaissance painter's mastery of chiaroscuro. And with Bachmann's post-Archers of Loaf solo vehicle Crooked Fingers, it's all about atmospherics: bluegrass-style arrangements with banjo and lap steel guitar intermingle with his own whiskey-soaked vocals to set the mood halfway between pitch-black desperation and blazingly bright optimism. Bachmann, a pretty good songwriter in his own right (check out the Archers' posthumous release Seconds Before the Accident if you need any reminder), has taken a breather of sorts with this 5-song covers EP. His take on Springsteen's "The River" is pretty straightforward, but he performs radical surgery on "Under Pressure," scrapping both the bass line and Freddie Mercury's histrionics, making the song powerful enough to actually move mountains. Hands down, Reservoir Songs is easily the best thing Crooked Fingers has done so far; you'll never think about Kris Kristofferson, Prince or Neil Diamond in the same way again.