A traveling musician who’s worked with the Swans’ Michael Gira, founded Austin, Texas’ Windsor for the Derby, and performs as Birdwatcher, Dan Matz relocated to the snowy confines of a small town just outside Buffalo, NY and spent a winter huddled by his tape recorders to set down this ghostly set of acoustic-based ballads that were allegedly written during a power outage in the midst of a blizzard. Hints of Nick Drake, Syd Barrett and David Gilmour-era Pink Floyd can be heard shading these modestly ambient tracks. Matz nearly hides his voice in the mix at times and often multi-tracks the vocals to create a blurry effect. Anna Neighbor adds hypnotically repetitive piano that falls just short of classical minimalism. The a cappela groan of “Swing Her Around” may sound as if the claustrophobia’s kicking in, but the gentle sway of the title track, the carefully chosen notes of “Downpour” that eventually expand to a full-band organ-enhanced orchestration and the simple quiet grace of “The Ballad of John Edward Harley” make this 2003 album an undeservedly overlooked release.