It would be a good idea to just make a little note in the ledger of whatever you have available in front of you and just scribble, “2007 will be the last year that most people that I know don’t know who Cass McCombs is.” It’s so surefire and you’ll look like a Nostradamus predicting Halley’s Comet or something quite a bit easier. You’ll be called on to call heads or tails on every potential coin toss you’re involved with until you check out. It’s an easy assumption to make regarding the new Chicago resident because his 2007 album Dropping the Writ is just another in his line of under-appreciated masterpieces, fusing unpredictable and spectacular melodies with illuminated lyrics of such soothing balm, though they rarely attempt at opening discourse about the sunnier side of things or the cool side of the pillow. It’s just as well that there’s a strain of difficulty that is always snaking through McCombs’ songs of faith – challenging everything in ways that it deserves. He – like his current tourmates Band of Horses, who gained the oddest galleries of mainstream hype in anticipation of their latest record though they’d been just cool indie guys before that – should have trouble getting ignored soon and he won’t have to grow a bristly, hillbilly beard or get himself an iPod commercial to suddenly be visible or heard. He’d hate it anyway, but he’ll just have to deal with it then. Though what do we know about the world? We were saying the same thing after PREfection. This time we mean it.

Daytrotter’s Best 15 Albums of 2007
15. John Vanderslice — Emerald City
14. The National — Boxer
13. These United States — The Forest and the Garden
12. The Teeth — You’re My Lover Now
11. Dr. Dog — We All Belong
10. Brother Ali — The Undisputed Truth
9. Delta Spirit — Ode To Sunshine
8. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings — 100 Days, 100 Nights
7. Kings of Leon — Because of the Times
6. Cass McCombs — Dropping The Writ

Cass McCombs Tour Dates:
Jan 20 — Music Farm – w/ Band of Horses Charleston, South Carolina
Jan 21 — The NorVA – w/ Band of Horses Norfolk, Virginia
Jan 22 — Theatre of Living Arts – w/ Band of Horses Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jan 23 — Paradise – w/ Band of Horses Boston, Massachusetts
Jan 24 — The State Theatre – w/ Band of Horses Stage College, Pennsylvania
Jan 25 — Beachland Ballroom – w/ Band of Horses Cleveland, Ohio
Jan 26 — Headliner’s Music Hall – w/ Band of Horses Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 27 — Southgate House – w/ Band of Horses Newport, Kentucky
Jan 29 — Exit / In – w/ Band of Horses Nashville, Tennessee
Jan 30 — Hi-Tone – w/ Band of Horses Memphis, Tennessee
Jan 31 — Gargoyle – w/ Band of Horses St. Louis, Missouri
Feb 1 — Meacham Theater – Univ. of Oklahoma – w/ Band of Horses Norman, Oklahoma
Feb 2 — Palladium Ballroom – w/ Band of Horses Dallas
Feb 3 — La Zona Rosa Austin, Texas
Feb 4 — Spanish Moon – w/ Band of Horses Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Feb 6 — The Bottletree – w/ Band of Horses Birmingham, Alabama
Feb 7 — Beta Bar – w/ Band of Horses Tallahassee, Florida
Feb 9 — The Social – w/ Band of Horses Orlando, Florida
Feb 10 — Village Tavern – w/ Band of Horses Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Cass McCombs Official Site
Domino Recording Co.