Good News
Dan Wilson is the Scottish bard who crafts the gentle, painfully beautiful lyrics that form the backbones of Withered Hand's poignant folk songs. It is not at all surprising that he wrote many of the songs on this album at home, attempting to play and sing softly enough not to wake his sleeping children; despite their sonic fragility, however, these songs make emphatic statements of Wilson's views on religion, sex, and love. On New Dawn, he unintentionally explains how this album affects listeners: 'I deny tears are forming in my eyes. I'm oversensitive...But it makes me feel like I'm alive.'