Charles Dube: Auguries of Innocence Multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Charles Dube has been a presence on the New England music scene for more than twenty years. Starting off on drums in his teens Charles helped found the seminal Connecticut punk band Chronic Disorder in the early 80s. After that he moved on to play drums with shock punk Jack Tragic, then drums with Hartford’s post-punk The Dispossessed in the mid-80s. By the late 80s Charles had switched to keyboards and collaborated with former Dispossessed member Leigh Gregory on a series of acoustic-based recordings. By the mid-90s Charles embarked on projects virtually playing all the instruments himself as well as collaborating with guitar & studio virtuoso Jim Chapdelaine on Dube's 1999 release Long Walks Off A Short Pier. Auguries of Innocence is Charles’ first new recording in six years and it features Charles stretching out his talents at both songwriting and playing guitar. The first song on the CD, Ghost Song, is a definite pick for a single with its poppy chorus, and an up-tempo staccato guitar line in the break. Charles really showcases his songwriting craft on the next two songs. Untitled (Acrylic on Canvas) features an infectious, loopy bass line with an excellent arrangement and dramatic chorus (“walking amongst the tracers”), while in Escape to Sea a lover pleads escape with a beloved, with a glissading guitar line in the break beautifully complimenting the overall mood of the song. Likewise Nocturne (‘the language of sleep”) shifts dynamics between verse and break and features some of Charles’ most melodic lead playing (bringing to mind a bit of Primitive Painters era Felt in there). The rest of the songs on Auguries of Innocence are equally strong. Several songs hint at Charles’s affinity for Finnish folk music (check out Johanna The Matchstick Girl) and the CD is memorably rounded out with a vocal appearance by Hannah Dube (Charles’ daughter) on Lullaby, Charles’ slinky, syncopated bass lines (with piano and effects) on the instrumental A Man for All Moods and Seasons, and his delicate rendering of Wait for the Morning, a song Charles worked on with Leigh Gregory back in the late 80s and brings to light once again here. -Dylan Lawson