This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
WHO: A modern-day Renaissance man, bassist Erik Sanko is a longtime member of John Lurie’s avant-jazz Lounge Lizards, the leader of junk-rock outfit Skeleton Key, a session player for the likes of John Cale and Yoko Ono — as well as a professional marioinette maker who collects antique prosthetic limbs.
WHAT: Recorded in his New York apartment, the 11-song Past Imperfect, Present Tense is a sepia-toned, rustic geegaw of bizarro-universe Americana, built from simple chords, simple melodies, simple emotions and simple, authentic instruments like banjos, slide guitar and homemade percussion.
HIGHLIGHTS: The Train gently glides along on a sacred steel track; Blow Wind, Blow is the sort of spindly, creepy lullabye that would go perfectly in a David Lynch movie.
LAST WORDS: His past may be imperfect and his present tense — but his future prospects don’t seem so bad.
