Brooklyn patron saints Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio helped Robinson record this atmospheric folk-rock album in 2006, but personal demons (addiction, even homelessness) led to the shelving of the project until now. Still, this is no record of redemption. While Robinson is consistently clever and self-deprecating, every line seethes with real pathos. On “Buriedfed,” he pictures his own death and those of his friends over smoky acoustic guitar. It ends, like many of these tracks, in sparkling bombast. Such explosions are Grizzly Bear’s signature, but for Robinson, they’re the earned sound of life pulsing through the gloom.
