This is
Hoekstra's fourth and it's his most fully realized effort to date. Since he began his solo career in 1994, after a stint in
Bucket No. 6,
Hoekstra has been an exceptional songwriter. His shadowy, often impressionistic, lyrics are frequently masterpieces of suggestion -- extraordinary perceptions of the ordinary. While he continually excelled as a songwriter, his musicianship, particularly the arrangement of his material, has, CD by CD, become as loaded and innovative as his lyrics.
Around the Margins again tops previous efforts, especially in terms of the sonic imagery
Hoekstra employs. He marshals strings, loops, sound effects, voices, and percussion into 15 tracks, some of which, like "Desdemona," are simple, while others, such as "Houses Flying" and "Broken Tower," are more complex sonic montages.
Hoekstra has the range to get downright twangful, as on "Undone," or thoroughly sarcastic ("Laminate Man"), and he deftly borrows from alt-rock, R&B, and reggae when it suits his needs. Seven years and four albums after he released When the Tubes Begin to Glow, his debut album, it can be asserted that as an artist
Hoekstra has never taken a backward step from one release to the next. Instead, he continues to expand the parameters of his musical vision.