Native New Yorker and onetime Milwaukeean John Kruth has always had wide ears and an omnivore’s taste. For his latest album, the multi-instrumentalist and vocalist sets the words of Croatian poet Tin Ujević to music with the help of a onetime member of Camper Van Beethoven Victor Krummenacher as well as Croatian virtuosos. The arrangements and melodies don’t echo Ujević’s homeland but put his bright words in broader contexts. “Frailty” suggests a great lost track by Traffic, while much of the album draws on American folk sources and the worldwide acoustic rock of singer-songwriters.
