Hezekiah Says You're A-Ok, the debut album from Philadelphia songwriter vehicle Hezekiah Jones, is a record both nuanced and swayingly graceful. Falling somewhere in the realm between early Leonard Cohen and Will Oldham's Bonnie 'Prince' Billy recordings, Hezekiah Jones has crafted an album of tightly coiled harmonies, memorable lyrical melodies, and nimble, literate songwriting.
Raphael opens the album with the hypnotic Agnes of the World, setting the stage for a record populated with songs crafted like messages in bottles, tossed over the deck by a lone sailor on a rickety ship. The messages at first are sweet love letters, a little melancholy and a little homesick, but as the album progresses the ship turns a bit askew as the songs take on a slightly cracked logic and the wide-eyed air of 4 AM sleep deprivation.
The transition brings to mind the nervous eclecticism of the Beatles' White Album, only with a hazy delivery as if it were recorded by modern folk luminaries Hayden or Iron & Wine. Albert Hash, replete with distorted harmonica and gorgeous soaring harmony vocals, paints a figure akin to some of Lennon's fragmented character studies, while songs like Postpone channel that lush, acoustic beauty reminiscient of McCartney's contributions. In this context, the screen-door soundscape and prominent use of the slide whistle on Writing Letters in the Morning, or the kazoo chorus and Tom Waits junkyard clang of Hildebrand nestle themselves next to the summer hammock sentiment of Nothing's Bound and the tempered, bittersweet How You Feel About Traveling in a surprisingly cohesive, complementary fashion.
It's an album that is both easy to fall in love with and difficult to really nail down where it's coming from, comfortable but unexpected, unabashedly beautiful and languidly unnerving. I've never heard anything quite like it, and we here at Yer Bird are thrilled to bring it to you. I do hope you'll enjoy it.
Hezekiah Says You're A-Ok was recorded in Philadelphia and mastered at Masterworks by Philly legend Peter Humphreys (Lou Rawls, David Bowie).
1. Agnes of the World
2. Postpone
3. Circumstance
4. Burning Up So Badly
5. Nothing’s Bound (mp3)
6. How You Feel About Traveling
7. Albert Hash (mp3)
8. Hildebrand (mp3)
9. Writing Letters in the Morning
10. Just Because It’s Quiet Doesn’t Mean There’s Peace
11. Which Side Are We On?
...His is a folk that has contemporary equals in artists like M. Ward, Iron & Wine, and Will Oldham. "Nothing`s Bound", though, is a waltz-y acoustic folk number that has the subtle flavor of Ray Davies and Paul Simon in its delivery. Moody, sparse and dark just below candlelight, Cutrufello`s songs are somewhat quirky only so in subtle ways, and mostly in the lyrics. Although there is nothing subtle about the slide whistle that accompanies the jaunty piano number "Writing Letters In The Morning". This is not your average musical poetry. - Robinson, Miles Of Music
Philadelphia based Hezekiah Jones, weaves his musical quilt out of the same soft, acoustic cloth most recently and elegantly spun by the likes of Sam Beam and Will Oldham. While warm and inviting, Hezekiah pokes and stirs up darker lyrical truths adding a textual spoonful of sugar to make his unique brand of medicine go down. - Aquarium Drunkard
Raphael Cutrufello's tender first outing as Hezekiah Jones sounds like a moody old folk 33 that's been made aware of today's lo-fi scene but opts out of the irony. The immediate--and correct--comparison is to Leonard Cohen, who played ancient world-weariness as both timeless and modern. - C|Net, Editor's Pick
It’s full of the kind of songs that scintillate along the glistening strands of forlorn love or something like it. Like Will Oldham, who Cutrufello cites as a major influence, the best songs are little elusive, offering tiny bubbling epiphanies and a bittersweet afterglow. - Tara Murtha, Play Philly
What is it about a solitary guitar and one singer's voice that can so easily conjure up a vivid feeling, tangible and moving? Or at least it can when the singer/songwriter in question has a true knack for such things, as Raphael Cutrufello, singer/songwriter for Hezekiah Jones clearly does. "Agnes of the World," the first song on Hezekiah Says You're A-OK is one such solitary jewel, his singing and playing immediately time-stopping. At first his lyrics seem oblique, but then it hits that he's pondering where someone from his past ended up: Agnes of the world / where have you landed?" Other songs throughout the album are even more delicate and lovely-sounding, while just as good at containing a particular emotion, scene, or story….and doing so in a not-so-ordinary way, more subtle and less simplistic than many of his peers. "Albert Hash" tells a common tale (working man turns to drink due to life's hardness) in an uncommon way, almost resembling a bedtime story in some way. "Postpone" is a beautiful folk ode to a departed lover. "Nothing's Bound" matches that same description, actually, though it has its own distinct feeling about it. Which is the general charm of this album, I suppose, that every song makes its mark on you, in its own way, even as they all hang together stylistically under one enchanting mood. Every time I listen another lyric stands out for the first time, yet every time I listen Cutrufello's voice and the overall atmosphere – sad yet sweet – is also instantly comforting. – Dave Heaton, Erasing Clouds
...brings to mind artists like Sam Beam, Paul Simon, and Will Oldham. The aren't just songs. They are musical settings and emotions. It's not too often an acoustic album can grab your attention on one listen, and this does just that. - Herohill
...a real testament to the beauty of subtlety. Featuring little more than strummed acoustic guitar and vocals throughout (augmented only momentarily by improvised percussion and piano) it’s hardly complex stuff – brilliantly understated, gentle and observant, and thankfully uncluttered by self-consciousness and misplaced optimism. - Music-News.com
...an intimate and slightly unsettling performance. The songs sound like they were written during a hot and sticky summer, they have such an unhurried quality, but there is the sort of edginess that you might expect from a man on the brink. The highpoints are “Albert Hash” and “Circumstance”, both of which sound like a more cheerful Elliott Smith. Hezekiah Says You’re A-OK gives off the warm glow of a smile, but you suspect that behind the smile all is not well in Mr. Jones’ house. - PopMatters
