WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS – GOLD IN THE SHADOW

You may or may not find gold in the shadows, but the dimly lit, half-light is a place that William Fitzsimmons is well familiar with. With hushed tones and facial hair that draw obvious comparisons to Iron & Wine’s Samuel Beam, Fitzsimmons music inhabits the softly, softly folk nether-world. Barely breaking into a med-tempo sweat at any time, Fitzsimmons personal dilemmas – Wounded Head, Let You Break – dominate Gold in the Shadows. His duet with Julia Stone on Let You Break provides a surprising and surprisingly good relief; the use of programed beats working well against the hazy pop lyrics and feel. Indeed the considered use of electronica and keyboards lifts the album from the gentle folk groove it could have become mired in. That the album is based on a specific set of psychopathological disorders from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV) – Fitzsimmons has a Masters degree in Counseling and a personal history with mental illness – hardly sounds like the basis for a good time, yet Gold in the Shadows soothes far more than it dissects.

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