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Album Review :
 Denison Witmer - The Ones Who Wait

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Artist: Denison Witmer

Album: The Ones Who Wait

Label: Mono Vs Stereo Records

Release Date: April 26, 2011

Reviewer: Eric Pettersson

Tracklisting

  1. Hold On
  2. Brooklyn with Your Highest Wall
  3. Life before Aesthetics
  4. Your Friend
  5. Influence
  6. Every Passing Day
  7. Light on My Face
  8. Two and a Glass Rose
  9. One More Day
  10. Cursing
  11. I Live in Your Ghost

After switch over to Mono Vs Stereo, Philadelphia folk singer Denison Witmer returns with eleven new songs to calm and inspire his listeners. With The Ones Who Wait, Denison is at his most conflicted. At times the record is as happy and uplifting as ever, and at other points it is much darker than one would expect from the man who told us to use his 2005 release Are You a Dreamer? to help us fall asleep. The album begins with the warm gentleness typical of Denison Witmer as he sings “Of all the weather here, I like rain the most.” A bright, subtle choir in the background brings in a Simon & Garfunkel feel, while the softer “Brooklyn with Your Highest Wall” introduces the more somber side of the album, both musically and lyrically. The rest of the album continues to go back and forth between the light and dark sides of Denison’s music, turning emotions with a wide range of subject matter which includes lamenting materialism (“Life before Aesthetics”), singing hopefully of love returning (“Influence”), warning a friend about going in the wrong direction (“Every Passing Day”), fondly remembering a trip (“Two and a Glass Rose”), and saying goodbye to a friend with cancer (“I Live in Your Ghost”). The record is filled with love and longing, anxiety and hope. It is Denison at his most brooding and pensive without losing his calm and uplifting spirit.

Overall: For The Ones Who Wait, Denison Witmer continues to sing and play his signature brand of super mellow acoustic folk music. Taking some unexpectedly dark turns, these songs relish in Dension’s thoughtful poeticism, full of feeling while maintaining an overall relaxed tone. While it doesn’t quite live up to some of his past releases, there are some great tunes here that are sure to please any fan of Denison Witmer or folk music in general.