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October 9, 2024


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Ken Stringfellow
Touched (Manifesto)

By: Alex Steininger

Former Posies front man Ken Stringfellow's latest, Touched is a pop gem, one of the few albums in 2001 that both sounds pretty and has substance. The man that helped propel Seattle's power-pop sweethearts, The Posies, into the limelight, and the sought after side man to the stars, including Big Star and R.E.M., Stringfellow knows his way around a pop song.

His voice is both angelic and masculine, sparkling when the song needs it and adding grit when the melody calls for some dirt to shake up the scenery. From the mainly acoustic guitar and vocals of "One Morning" to the melancholy dance of "Find Yourself Alone," through the bounce of "Uniforms," Stringfellow captures the essence of pop and stamps his name all over it. He then spits out songs that not only get stuck in your head, but make you react in one way or another.

Whether you get up and dance, sit down and sing along, or lay back wandering with the songs, Stringfellow's hook-laden nuggets and musical charm will sink right in and find you listening to the album several times over. A true treasure, Stringfellow is one of the most underrated songwriters of the past decade, and Touched puts him one step closer to the recognition and credit he deserves. I'll give it an A+.15

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