The Lone Wolf

posted in: Music News

Michael Tolcher‘s music career had an inauspicious start: busking on Atlanta’s Peachtree Street and hawking tapes recorded on a jambox in his bathroom. Years later, Tolcher’s upgraded his game just a little. After a five-year relationship with A&M/Octone Records, the singer-songwriter is now free to fully explore his art. His music is a reflection of these broadened horizons, and ranges from rootsy rock to synth-driven pop. Fine layers synths and drums for a mid-tempo groove that’s got hooks to spare. On Give Me Your Hand Tolcher slows things down for an acoustic, soulful love-song, made for slow dancing. Likewise, Wishing Well is sweet, maybe even saccharine, acoustic balladry. Tolcher can keep his songs sparse, but he also knows how to flesh them out. On Sooner or Later he brings in organ, guitar and drums for a syncopated rocker. Tolcher’s doing it his way, and the results are one-of-a-kind. But we’d still like to see the jambox make a comeback.