Ron Sexsmith: Cobblestone Runway

Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith has toiled in the margins throughout his career, tirelessly championed by famous musicians (including Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams) but forced to bounce from label to label with precious little mainstream exposure. His sixth album, Cobblestone Runway, may or may not change that, but it's a gorgeous, life-affirming gem for those willing to seek it out. After albums produced by Mitchell Froom and Steve Earle, Runway's electronic accouterments (courtesy of Swedish producer Martin Terefe) take a little getting used to, particularly once a throbbing disco beat pops up on "Dragonfly On Bay Street." But they're rarely distracting—most just jazz up his catchiest pop songs—and they never detract from some of the most humane, enduring lyrics of Sexsmith's career. It's hard to imagine many other songwriters advancing such a reassuringly optimistic view of life, especially in light of the album's bittersweet reflections on the dissolution of Sexsmith's marriage, the Sept. 11 attacks, and the murder of Matthew Shepard. "Dragonfly On Bay Street," on its surface an odd dance-pop throwaway, is about finding a tiny symbol of purity and beauty in the heart of an urban financial district, a glass-half-full observation that provides a neat summation of Runway's worldview. Best of all are "God Loves Everyone" and "Gold In Them Hills": The former, like Tom Waits' "Down There By The Train," spares all of humanity from damnation, while the latter concludes, "Don't lose heart / Give the day a chance to start." In the hands of a less convincing singer, that sentiment might come off as pat and saccharine, but here (particularly in a remix featuring Coldplay's Chris Martin, another singer who knows something about warmth), it's nothing less than the sound of kindness.