CD Review: Oak and Gorski, “Good Advice, Bad Advice”

Take the rootsy instrumentation of Lowen & Navarro and blend it with the marshmallow-sweet vocal harmonies of the Guggenheim Grotto, and you’ve got yourself Oak and Gorski, the cello-rockin’ duo made up of former Ken Oak Band members Ed Gorski and (duh) Ken Oak. Good Advice, Bad Advice is the first album they’ve released since ditching the Ken Oak Band moniker, but the new stuff is still being compared to their previous albums — mostly unfavorably, from what I’ve been able to determine, primarily because these songs are more “pop” and less “cello-driven ambient folk” than the fans are used to. I’ve never listened to a note of their other songs, so I can’t compare, but I can tell you that Good Advice, Bad Advice is 11 songs’ worth of gently catchy, sneakily addictive acoustic-based pop/rock, bound together with steel strings and webs of ringing harmonies. It won’t win any points for originality, and it won’t change your life, but it will grow on you — I know, because I’ve been listening to it all day, and while I probably couldn’t hum a single song other than “Pretty Far Gone,” I’m not tired of the album yet, and that’s really saying something.

Watch this live video for “Pretty Far Gone,” then visit Oak and Gorski at their official site and their MySpace page.

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