Come to Where I'm From

Exclusive French limited edition reissue of the Real World recording artist's sophomore album with a bonus enhanced CD featuring the videos for, 'In The Sun' and 'Chemical' along with photos of the artist and two non-LP tracks, 'Cocaine' & 'Ski Or Snowboard'. The bonus CD is in a cardboard sleeve, the full length is in a standard jewel case. Both are housed in a deluxe slipcase. 2000 release.

The bleakest heartbreak abounds on Joseph Arthur's Come to Where I'm From, where this Ohio-born singer-songwriter picks up a guitar and strums out some gravelly, angst-ridden black magic. From the darkest depth of "Invisible Hands" where he sings "Your photograph sits like a scar against my wall" to the raspy groove of "History," this album is affecting therapy for the self-destructive, proving that it's better to play a sad song and smoke a cigarette than to extinguish it on your arm. --Beth Massa

The music of singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur owes a lot to both country folk-rock outsider Joe Henry and the late Jeff Buckley. Combining the whimsical studio experimentation of the former and the blistering emotion of the latter, Arthur's Come to Where I'm From may confuse on first listen but engrosses with each successive spin. He is able to stretch out his voice into moody, ominous tones, or let it soar out over indigenously tinged oceans of sound ("Invisible Hands" and "Ashes Everywhere" demonstrate his two extremes). The strongest cut, "Tattoo," is the most telling; in the hands of someone with a penchant for high melodrama, this gorgeous gem easily could have fallen like a lead balloon. Arthur instead weaves his voice around the churning acoustic guitar and waltzing bass line to achieve a slice of transcendent bliss. --Jason Josephes