For Promotional Use Only

David Fagin's solo debut — a real, available album, not a promo-only item, despite the tongue-in-cheek title — is a pretty average record by a singer/songwriter crafting a sound that might have been considered indie rock some years prior to this release, but had by 2007 become fairly mainstream. The vocals are strainingly earnest to the point of verging on the slightly whiny, and the lyrics often deal with romantic ups, downs, hopes, and aspirations in a tone that signifies frustration and disappointment more often than not. In a manner similar to how many artists have echoed the influence of the Beatles down the years and even decades, so does this faintly echo the influence of R.E.M. and the many bands that followed in their wake in its fairly serious mannerisms, lyrical haziness, and a straightforward guitar rock base, sometimes embellished by synthesizer. It's a record that's both possessed of undoubted sincerity and is thoroughly unexceptional on an artistic level. The most successful transcendence of the trappings on the genre is heard on "Dust," which has a little bit of almost art-rockish grandeur in its chorus and some creative addition of Pink Floyd-ish guitar and mysterious sound effects.