The Houston-based maverick Robert Ellis did something very gutsy on his fourth album: he took on the subject of his own divorce, not necessarily as autobiography, but as the grounding element within a brutally honest assessment of how a dream can fail. Divorce, as it happens, was also one of the major themes pursued by such artists as James Taylor and Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s, when the rules of marriage were being rewritten alongside those defining what a singer-songwriter could be. On his fourth album, Ellis is living up to those heroes. Framing each song in rich arrangements redolent with strings, jazzy keyboards and wicked guitar, Ellis makes sure each piece of his narrative fits with the next, from the starry-eyed optimism of the power-poppy “Perfect Strangers” to self-laceration of “You’re Not the One” — “you’re not the one that I should want,” he laments, going pure country for a tortured moment. In assessing love that doesn’t fly and the injuries sustained when it crashes, Ellis pushes himself in every way, and it pays off.
The Fat Angel Sings 