Chris Volpe’s gentle vocals, padded by long strains on the harmonica, whining pedal steel and warm acoustic guitars, have a nice way of relaying some hard truths on his new disc, Shipwrecked. Shades of Neil Young emerge in the bleak "Afraid of the Dark," which tackles the weighty issue of environmental pollution and paints a picture of the resulting mess when mankind fails to react responsibly. The seven-minute song is sonically dissonant and intentionally noise-cluttered, accurately reflecting Volpe’s morose lyric.

His tongue-in-cheek writing style takes center stage in the sharp social commentary "Dusty Bibles" and the sax-accented "Don’t Go," in which he begs his lover to ignore him: "If I ever tell you to leave, don’t go." Occasional electric guitars, alto and soprano sax, clarinet, bass and cello round out a set that demands repeated plays. Artfully done, Shipwrecked is easy on the ears while pricking the listener’s conscience.