Eric Bachmann
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Crooked Fingers, Bachmanns more stripped-down follow-up project, debuted in 2000 with a self-titled full length. The record finds Bachmann playing folky melodies and drunken, swirling Americana that treads the ground of Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Nick Drake. Bring on the Snakes, Crooked Fingers more optimistic sophomore output, followed in 2001. In 2002, Bachmann put out his first set of recordings under his own name. The album, entitled Short Careers, marks Bachmanns first foray into film scores. It collects eerie instrumentals filled with apprehensive string arrangements and ominous acoustic guitars that accompany the film Ball of Wax, a story of an evil baseball player mad with greed. Somehow the subject matter suits Bachmann perfectly -- taking the most American of sports and twisting it inside out to reveal the darkness that lurks beneath the surface. He released his second proper solo album, the sparse and powerful To the Races, in summer 2006.
