Ron Sexsmith is certainly one of the most singular performers in music today. He does what he does and hasn't deviated from it in any significant way since his first album nearly 15 years ago. A fair comparison in terms of his unique voice and almost fey manner would be Rufus Wainwright, but even that is a bit of a stretch, as Sexsmith doesn't venture nearly as far into the theatrical bombast that Rufus does in fact the truly beautiful songs in Sexsmith's catalogue are the most simple and spare ballads.

For years I've felt somewhat sorry for Ron because I always felt like he'll forever be cursed by his third album Other Songs. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being unqualified masterpiece Other Songs is about a 6 1/2. And though he's done consistently good work since, the standard he set with Other Songs is one that is literally impossible for him to match. Whereabouts, the album that followed it failed to recapture much of the magic of Other Songs and perhaps as just an attempt to shake things up he recorded 2001's Blue Boy with Steve Earle as producer. This album was practically recorded live and though it fun and, well . . . lively it seemed to take Sexsmith even further from his strengths.

In the end recording with Earle might have done him some good, because 2002's Cobblestone Runway was a undeniable return to form that contains some of his best work. In fact, the other night I was watching the fantastic Irish film Intermission and two of Sexsmith's songs from Cobblestone Runway are used in key moments of the film. This did my heart some good, because Ron is hardly a household name and sometimes with pet artists like Sexsmith, you get the feeling that you're the only guy in the world who loves his music.

Even better news is that Retriever goes Cobblestone Runway one better and thus makes it his second best record. There is a recognizable same-ishness to the way Sexsmith crafts many of his tunes and this is still very much the case, here - but lyrically, the man knows few contemporary peers and his gift as a wordsmith is on full display here. The record is a fair mixture of his slower emotional songs, but the new release finds Ron doing a good bit of rocking.
Produced by Martin Terefe and Sexsmith, this is perhaps his best sounding effort to date and Terefe also contributes a good bit of the instrumental tracks. Ordinarily I greatly prefer his slow songs to his up-tempo tunes, but on Retriever there is a wonderful amount of guitar interplay that smacks of the tasty riffs the Beatles used to propel their songs - particularly in the years between '65 and '67.

In the past Sexsmith's vocals seemed a bit awkward and out of place on his more rocking songs, but here he seems to revel in them and his vocal prowess has developed to the point where he still commands them no matter how loud the tunes. For me the centerpiece of the record is "For The Driver," which is the slow simple ballad that almost recaptures the fragile power of arguably his greatest song "Pretty Little Cemetery." Still what makes Retriever such a joy is to listen to a man who seems completely comfortable again with his art, whose musicianship and vocal ability has matured to a point where it is becoming a match for his genius as a lyricist.