Black Ticket Day
offers eight tracks featuring
Kuepper
's pop/rock side, driven by acoustic guitars, cascading piano chords/ and his plaintive vocals (reminiscent at times of
the Cure
's
Robert Smith
). Even at his most gorgeously melodic, there's always a dark, mournful tinge to
's work. His ability to combine beauty with sadness (
"All My Ideas Run to Crime"
) and basic pop structures with extended improvisation (the nine-minute "Blind Girl Stripper") can be mesmerizing. ~ Roch Parisien