David Myles

It’s a rainy day and you feel like going nowhere. You called in sick to work. Your lover just left on a plane for a business trip. Singer-songwriter David Myles’ full-length debut album Together and Alone is the perfect soundtrack at a time like this. Myles is a New Brunswick native who has studied in China and Toronto, among other places. He’s a man with a familiar voice, as if you had a conversation with him long ago.

His music is sweet and tenderly, always comforting you in the moment. The album begins with a soft melody (‘On Your Own’), where he sings: “You can't decide / If it’s better or if its worse / If being alone is a blessing or a curse.” Myles’ philosophy is “less is more” and in the album, it’s true because every song is stripped down to its bone. Together and Alone is mature and bare, yet filled with joy and memorable lyrics.

The album also features Mike Doherty on piano, Tom Easley (Hot Toddy) on bass, and vocalist Tania Breen. On Track 4 (‘Sunshine’), Myles and Breen sing a beautiful duet together, “Moon shines down upon your pale face / Like a flower belonging to no time nor place / A painter may paint it, a writer may write / But they're still imitations of your beauty tonight.”

Together and Aloneis both beautiful and sad. Personally, I wouldn’t want to listen to this CD alone, unless I had two boxes of Kleenex beside me.