Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

McCombs is a U.S. singer-songwriter, but no ordinary folkie. Signed to England’s Domino label (Franz Ferdinand, The Arctic Monkeys), he writes quirky songs about himself that sound like nothing else around. McCombs’ third album features his wry autobiographical perspective on such catchy tunes as “That’s That,” in which he croons cheerfully about working at a job cleaning toilets in a Baltimore club. Meanwhile, his dark, surrealistic side emerges on “Lionkiller” and the sprightly “Full Moon or Infinity.”

The Old Soul is the brainchild of Toronto’s Luca Maoloni, a gifted musician with an absurdist bent. Like Joel Gibb of The Hidden Cameras, Maoloni has extravagant, wacky ideas and orchestrates a large ensemble to try and execute them. Trouble is, Maoloni’s imagination has clearly run amok and the music on his group’s second album is all over the shop. From the cabaret-like “Your Sister” and the Tubular Bells-like “Want to Be Seen” to the frivolous calypso romp “Let’s Neck,” it’s a sprawling, ill-conceived mess.

He sings like a cross between Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley and writes songs with the wit and warmth of Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello, which helped Hawley win a prestigious Mercury Prize nomination for his last album, Coles Corner. The former Pulp guitarist’s latest collection ups the ante, adding the brisk rockabilly of “Serious” and “Looking for Someone to Find Me” and the lush orchestral opener “Valentine.” But Hawley’s ace up his sleeve is “Tonight the Streets Are Ours,” a stirring freedom song for modern times.