David Singer
The Cost of Living (Deep Elm)
by Marc Hirsh

originally published in Space City Rock, Fall 2002

There's not a blessed thing wrong with The Cost of Living other than the fact that there's nothing particularly right about it. A singer-songwriter who defies the classic mold only through his choice of studio tinkerage over acoustic guitar as his key instrument, David Singer sings like he's fighting a cold and writes songs like he's trying to avoid getting tagged as a singer-songwriter of the classic mold. The Cost of Living sends notice that a major talent may have entered the arena without actually engaging in any arena-entering.

The album isn't a string of near misses so much as hits that bounce off; everything's good enough to make you wish that it were a just little better. Singer litters the record with hints of what might be, from the almost-but-not-quite-stellar wordplay of the lyrics to his disregard of a great title like "I Need To Be Able To See You," which only appears as a dialogue snippet occasionally materializing throughout an otherwise instrumental track. All in all, The Cost of Living is eyebrow-raising without being mind-blowing, and when it's finished whirring, I remember being fond of "The Cost of Living," "Base of My Skull" and "Table of Elements." But I don't remember them.

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