Almost Charlie - A Different Kind of Here (2017)

2017 release. Berlin singer/multi-instrumentalist Dirk Homuth and New York City lyricist Charlie Mason have teamed up to pen A Different Kind of Here, Almost Charlie's fourth album and the band's third record for the Minneapolis-based Words On Music label. With 12 new songs brimming with impossibly elegant hooks, poignant imagery, and enduring melodies that flirt with The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel, A Different Kind of Here is infused with an unmistakable flair and cohesiveness that belies the fact that this uniquely 21st Century transatlantic songwriting team have never met. Homuth's unfailing affinity for tunefulness seamlessly blends the album's assortment of sonic textures, from the carnivalesque Sgt. Peppers-meets-Westworld imaginings of "Robot" to the gentle, piano-guided interlude "Sunset On Elysian Fields" that evokes mid-period Felt. Duskier undercurrents percolate through the record, such as in "The Loneliness of Sharks" - one of several compositions that begin deceptively spare but blossom into orchestral-laden gems, making A Different Kind of Here another sophisticated, chamber pop masterpiece from this transatlantic songwriting duo.