Hirway also sings with one of those breathy, yet always melodic voices. His melodies lean toward the melancholy side, without ever coming off sad and depressing. Instead, he creates late evening contemplative music for those that want to end their days on a thoughtful note. Radio may be the sound salvation after all, Mr. Costello.   Full text...

Hirway sings, his voice reminiscent of the late Elliott Smith, who has become somewhat of an indie singer-songwriter touchstone. Like Smith, Hirway's music is a little too gauzy for its own good, but there are enough hidden surprises—like the regal brass coda and deconstructed hip-hop drum loop of "Lest I Forget" and "Mercury," respectively—to keep you wide awake, and the album is so majestic that it remains with you like a cherished memory…even if it is a fuzzy memory.   Full text...

Hirway’s The One AM Radio aesthetic is similar in tone to the Sofia Coppola film: a house burning peacefully in the night (This Too Will Pass’ album artwork), the innocent late night game on the football field between old friends (in The One AM Radio’s video for “Witness” - A Name Writ In Water). “Coming Back” and “Your Name” exemplify Hirway’s modest, self-effacing Shins-style prose (struggling small town lesbians, anyone?) – This Too Will Pass is the musical embodiment of the scene in Wonder Boys, when depressive naïf James Leer (Toby Maguire) has read his latest brilliant, despondent fictional narrative aloud to his Advanced Writers' Workshop classmates.  Full text...

There are elements of this record that remind me of the Notwist and the Album Leaf – all of which are good things.  Full text...