''Gambler's Ecstasy'' is American musician

Chris Brokaw Chris Brokaw (born August 1, 1964) is an American musician, best known for his work with the bands Come (American band), Come and Codeine (band), Codeine. Life and career While studying at Oberlin College, Brokaw met many people who became figu ...

's sixth solo studio album.

Background

The recording of ''Gambler's Ecstasy'' took place between 2008 and 2012 in a number of different studios:

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in Chicago, IL; The Echo Lab in Denton, TX; and Soundhouse and The Track Shack both in

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, WA. The album was recorded by Matthew Barnhart, Matthew Brown, and Tim Iseler, and mixed by Matthew Barnhart and Chris Brokaw. CD and LP versions were released by

Damnably Damnably is an independent record label based in Stratford, East London. It was founded by George Gargan and Janice Li. Primarily created to promote a John Peel night at The Brixton Windmill in 2006, Damnably then undertook tour booking and evo ...

and 12XU, respectively, on 2 October 2012. All its songs are Brokaw's compositions, with the exception of "Crooked" which was written and originally performed by

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

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. "Criminals" was partly inspired by the homonymous novel by Margot Livesey and originally appeared, along with "Into the Woods", in Geoff Farina and Brokaw's second collaborative album, '' The Boarder's Door''. "The Appetites" was partly inspired by Brokaw's late friend

Caroline Knapp Caroline Knapp (November 8, 1959 – June 3/4, 2002) was an American writer and columnist whose candid best-selling memoir ''Drinking: A Love Story'' recounted her 20-year battle with alcoholism. She was the daughter of noted psychiatrist Peter H ...

's ''Appetites: Why Women Want'', published posthumously in 2003, which described Knapp's experience with anorexia and women's struggles with addiction. "Richard and Vanessa in the Box" was originally commissioned by Nicole Peisl for the Daghdha dance company. "Exemptive", the instrumental opening track on Brokaw's previous album, Canaris, appears in electric form with vocals under the title "Exemption" on ''Gambler's Ecstasy''. Guest musicians include David Michael Curry from Empty House Cooperative, Howard Draper from

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, and

John Herndon John Herndon (born April 9, 1966) is an American musician and artist. Based in Chicago, he was a founding member of the post-rock band Tortoise, where he plays drums and percussion. Herndon also works as a producer for instrumental hip hop unde ...

and

Douglas McCombs Douglas McCombs is an American musician who plays bass and guitar with the instrumental rock band Tortoise and leads the instrumental band Brokeback. He is also the longtime bassist for the rock band Eleventh Dream Day. In 1997, he formed Pullma ...

both from

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. The cover artwork is a photograph of composer and visual artist Paul Rucker's piece ''Convenient Truth'', part of the artist's multimedia project ''Four Scores'' which had previously featured on the cover of Grantmakers in the Arts' periodical publication ''GIA Reader'', Vol. 23, No. 1 (Winter 2012).

Track listing

All songs written by Brokaw, unless otherwise noted.

Personnel

– guitars, bass, vocals ;Additional musicians * David Michael Curry – viola on ''Crooked'' * Howard Draper – organ on ''The Appetites'' *

– drums on ''The Appetites'' and ''Exemption'' *

– bass guitar on ''The Appetites'' and ''Exemption'' ;Additional personnel * Paul Rucker – Front cover * John Engle –

Cover photo Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product, such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album art ...

Critical reception

In her review of the album for

Blurt magazine ''Blurt'' is a music print magazine and online outlet originally based in Silver Spring, MD. The magazine was originally known as ''Harp Magazine'' for over 10 years, also based in Silver Spring, and was considered one of the best music magaz ...

, Jennifer Kelly stated that "''Gambler's Ecstasy'' takes some risks, pursuing diverse styles and eccentric paths to tunefulness, but it mostly comes up sevens."

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's review stated that Brokaw's album "asserts his mastery of mood-shift", concluding that "Brokaw's weathered voice and reverberant playing make another rewarding set." Online music publication ''The Line of Best Fit'' gave the album a rating of 8.5/10, declaring that, " ether best described as having a restless muse or an open mind, there’s no denying Brokaw is a phenomenal musician." Likewise, giving the album a rating of 8/10, ''The 405'' affirmed that "at its best, Gambler's Ecstasy can be described is a heartfelt album that is practically oozing emotion and personality." Writing for ''Penny Black Music'', Andrew Carver ends his review of the album as follows: "Never a very high profile performer, even at Come’s height, Brokaw's ''Gambler’s Ecstasy'' shows why it would be a terrible shame to let one of America’s finest musicians fall from the radar."

References

External links

*
Discogs entry for ''Gambler's Ecstasy''
{{Authority control Chris Brokaw albums 2012 albums Damnably albums