One of the things I love most about Glen Phillips' music — with and without a band — is that it feels like a friend.  His stories tell of joy, love, fear, loss, anger, sadness, discontent, nature, peace, and a host of other emotions and states of being and through them all is a gentleness, a friendliness, a welcoming that makes you feel like carrying these songs with you.  The songs may not ease your burdens but they're great companions when you feel like you're carrying just a little more than you can bear.  Even the darkest among create an almost sacred bond with the listener.

The specifics of his songs may be foreign to you but rather than keeping you at arms' length, his songs invite you in.  It doesn't matter where you came from or how found them.  It doesn't matter if you were there at the beginning or if you're joining already in progress.  You listen and feel drawn to them.  You feel them becoming part of you.

"Silo Lullaby" is a song from Phillips' days in Toad the Wet Sprocket.  It was originally an exclusive track you could access through their web site and their album Coil.  It was later issued on the retrospective Sony released after the band brokeup.  The stirring string arrangement and Glen Phillip's perfectly executed vocal are addictive.  I've been listening to this song for years and I cannot remember ever listening to it only once.  It's got a haunting, meditative feel yet there's something tender and delicate about it.

I can't say for certain, but "Silo Lullaby" probably isn't about the annoyances of a fat, middle aged cubicle drone, yet it is a song I've often chosen to spend the day with.  It doesn't have to make sense.  Life rarely does.  It's just nice to know I'm not facing today alone.

Article Author: Josh Hathaway

Josh Hathaway is a Sr. Music Editor for Blogcritics.

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