Daniel Martin Moore
In the Cool of the Day
(Sub Pop)

“Come all ye tenderhearted, we do entreat,” Daniel Martin Moore all but whispers in opening. In a sense, he’s greeting the listener to his record, but it’s also a taste of the fact that this is his own sort of gospel record. The songs on In the Cool of the Day are all lifted from spiritual pages, some traditional works while others originate from Moore’s own pen. However, this isn’t your standard album of hymns. Instead, Moore has added his own Kentucky twist, making the tracks sound more like something you’d hear from Ray LaMontagne or Andrew Bird than the pews of a church.

The religious flirts with the secular, and it’s really not heavy-handed about the subject matter in the slightest. The love for God can easily be interpreted as a love for another person, making it easy-listening for anyone. The dancing piano keys and soft drums on “In the Garden” have a refreshingly upbeat, jazz flavor to them, while tracks like “Softly and Tenderly” are stripped back and tender. In the Cool of the Day can have emotional resonance no matter what your beliefs, and the beauty of Moore’s work makes the record memorable like sunny days spent lounging in a rural cabin.