Will Hoge Is Back

I'm one of those who started losing interest in Will Hoge with 2007's Draw the Curtains, a moody and country-inflected effort that critics seemed to really like. To me, he broke faith with those of us who fell in love with the carthartic hookiness of Carousel and the even more adrenaline-fueled Blackbird on a Lonely Wire. With The Wreckage he's splitting the difference, and the result is genius of a slightly more reserved sort. There's still a twanginess to his sound and a tendency towards the acoustic in his arrangements, but he's also back to his high-octane best on hair-raisers like "Hard to Love" and "Highway Wings." No one's saying he shouldn't grow up; it's just that when you have a gift for hooks as indelible as his, it seems like a shame to waste it. My faith is restored.