The Rohan Theatre Band
Perfect World
Hobgoblin Records

Rohan Kriwaczek is a much-trained musician. He's a funerary violinist amongst other things and an ardent student of Tom Waits. Trouble is, his stentorian voice and odd lyrical concerns make him a bit too close to the original for comfort. I adore Waits and Rohan Theatre Band replicate his voice and music so well it can hardly be dull.

The highly cynical title song is a sepia-tinted ballad. The album's booklet contains a highly amusing fictional account of the Theatre and those who work in it. "Boneless Joe" wheezes and rages like a demented man's nightmare. "Everybody's Happy To Be Dead" get a remarkably jaunty tune to its morbid words. The Rohan Theatre Band are highly skilled at what they do, but ether's a sneaking suspicion that when its leader looks in the mirror Waits looks back. He needs a voice of his own and surely inside his menagerie of weird creations one must lurk. This is still a great listen, but not an original one.

Copyright © 2007 Anna Maria Stjärnell