Stephen Doster

Stephen Doster's 2014 LP, Arizona, struck like lightning. Charged with decades of wind-up since his 1997 debut Rosebud, the sophomore effort finally drew proper recognition for the hardworking Austin singer-songwriter-producer and not just inside these city limits. New Black Suit maintains the momentum, sharpening his keen studio ear for perfect, driving melodies in the key of reflection.

As the closing title track highlights, Doster's reckoning with loss all around him, including his late friend George Reiff, who anchors the studio quartet on bass. Opener "Shooting for the Stars" commingles the death of a childhood friend and innocence, while "William Melvin Hicks" pays tribute to the too-short life of the iconoclastic Texan. Likewise, "Balmorhea" blooms an appreciation of place tinged with nostalgia in the strings of Brian Standefer and Warren Hood, and "You Should've Seen This Place" brightens behind Elias Haslanger and Derrick Becker's sax and trumpet.

Employing a tender tenor that in moments recalls Jerry Garcia, Doster doesn't dwell on the losses, but rather emphasizes the rededication to life that they prompt. Despite a constant slipping away ("Big Cars") and struggle to move forward ("Until the End," "Something Good"), New Black Suit rings optimistic and full of love, not just for the past, but in change ("Love Like Summertime").

"To every good thing that living will bring," he offers in the final line, "I'll hold on until then."