Castle Project - Diaries Of A Broken Heart

"If it wasn't for good love gone bad, there wouldn't be no songs." The late Jim Spencer, godfather of Milwaukee's music scene, said that before he shuffled off and inspired the first Violent Femmes LP, which is dedicated to him. Castle Project, performed and written by Ryan Ostiguy, proves the theory. It's eleven songs by one guy with a little help from his friends. And about, you guessed it, good love gone bad. It's kind of like Sir Paul without the rest of the knighted Beatles or Wings. It reminds me of String Driven Thing, an obscure Scottish band I once saw open for Lou Reed. They specialized in something called Scots-Presbyterian Depresso-Rock. Diaries Of A Broken Heart features such "upbeat" titles as "Celebrate The End," "In Frustration," "Waste" and "Apologies." Ostiguy puts it this way in "The Airways" when he sings: "I don't know much about love..." then goes on about it for eleven songs and a whole lotta minutes. The inner sleeve's picture of Ostiguy, beneath the "diaries" booklet, says it all. It reads "I'm Dead To You" under his funereal portrait. By the time you hear it all you might think Ryan Ostiguy wrote all those songs Jim Spencer was talking about. So, have a good listen, but stay away from the Golden Gate after you do. [www.castleproject.com]