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SAM AMIDON Sam Amidon gets star billing on his second album, but the New York City musician has little to do with it. It’s certainly not a sign of creative bankruptcy to reinterpret an album’s worth of antique folk songs, but to do so in such a detached, opiated and nonchalant manner makes you wonder what Amidon finds interesting about these songs in the first place. When he sings, “Got my money in my pocket and my pistol in my hand,” he sounds like he’s genuinely befuddled as to how either ended up on his person—and more than a bit puzzled about what he might possibly do next. His vocals don’t commit to the lyrics in the least, not even when trying to resurrect “O Death.” “You’ll never go to heaven when you die, little girl,” he cautions, but it sounds entirely inconsequential. All Is Well does have its charms, all of which stem from producer Valgeir Sigurdsson and orchestrator Nico Muhly. Both are recent Björk confidantes and were behind the scenes of Bonnie Prince Billy’s The Letting Go. Sigurdsson and Muhly treat Amidon as a blank canvas, projecting their brass and string fantasies onto these folk songs. “Little Johnny Brown” stands out, primarily due to Muhly’s piano, which provides an ominous pulse worthy of the soundtrack to a John Carpenter movie; Eyvind Kang’s droning viola is equally creepy, and Sigurdsson’s subtle electronic shadings provide further disorientation. Amidon sounds like he’s trying his best to maintain calm while surrounded by these ghostly figures, but it would be a lot more interesting for everyone if he put up a bit of a fight. [Bedroom Community, www.bedroomcommunity.net] —Michael Barclay
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