On his third LP, Boston-based singer/drummer Baldrachi (ex-Krushr) moves away from the power-pop that dominated 2012’s Back to the Start – first released in 2011 as Tomorrow Never Knows – and 2006’s Solid Ground. Granted, the exuberant opening title track, with its blaring and soulful, Saints-evoking horns (courtesy brothers John and Scott Aruda), and the crunchy, harmony-filled “Side By Side,” show he can still crank out a Big Star/Posies-inspired rocker on cue. But Slow mostly finds an obsessively lovesick Baldrachi mining pedal steel-flecked country-folk and Sweetheart of the Rodeo-esque canyon rock, as on the sensitive “People Don’t Change,” sparkling “In My Heart,” and spirited “Killing Time.” Yet thanks to an array of 15 proficient supporting players such as guitarist/co-songwriter Gary Rand, Barrence Whitfield and the Savages guitarist Milt Reder, and alluring backing vocalist Ingrid Gerdes, and its luminous, full-bodied production, Slow is his most affecting work to date. (peterbaldrachi.com, peterbaldrachi.bandcamp.com)
