Nicholas, on most tracks, has a voice somewhere between Andy Devine and post-Band Robbie Robertson and a worldview like Mojo Nixon on an almost therapeutic dose of thorazine. The most interesting tracks, like on most CDs these days, are stacked up at the beginning. "Scared" leads things off, and kind of sets the tone for the whole CD, with Nicholas musing about how he can stand up on stage in front of people but has some reticence to deal with other, more mundane things. It's an apparent contradiction which, I think, most people are going to identify with though they rarely admit it. "Talk About Nothing" and "Me & Allie" seem to be about the same person, a lost love that departed because of Nicholas' inability or lack of desire to commit; Nicholas expresses his feeling in "Me & Allie" that as long as they sat and held hands, everything was just fine, but, alas, Allie wanted more. A lot of these songs, such as "Ben's Bridge," and "Falling,"with its line "I know I'll wake up tomrrow/but I'm not sure that I'll be all right" when juxtaposed with the hilarious but sad-in-its-way "Beer" raise what I call the Leonard Cohen contradiction: listening can be a cathartic experience, but the act of seeking out these songs is a sure sign that you need to call the Hotline and talk to someone. Nicholas, with his spare arrangements and whisper-like vocals, has his hand out to you; whether it's to pull you off the ledge or keep you company on the way down is up to you. This is highlighted by the (almost) closing track, "Time That I Go," where, in light of what has passed before, one is not sure whether the singer is walking out the door or off of the planet.

The most enigmatic track on the CD, however, is the rapidly-becoming-requisite "hidden" track, a surprisingly upbeat little a capella gem that sounds as if it were taken from an outtake of a recording session by someone other that Nicholas. Maybe it's a hint of things to come. Whether it is or not, it'll be interesting to see what comes out of him next time around, regardless of what twists and turns he takes his listeners on while he's on the road there.