R.U.O.K.? self titled debut

I first found out about this one-man spoken word project at the Scar Tissue/Razor Skyline show in San Francisco a few months ago. R.U.O.K.? was one of the opening bands, and the show, featuring twitching mental patients, a nurse dispensing pills, and a doctor writing everything down among many other things, absolutely blew me away. Combining spoken word about common everyday annoyances with Pink Floyd style guitars hinting at Lycia and light ambient synth backgrounds, Jim Harris (the man behind R.U.O.K.?) has released one of the freshest, most innovative debut albums I've heard in a long while. The resulting sound is completely unique, not to mention the subject matter of the lyrics. One song, entitled "The Job Interview," chronicles the speaker's experience at a job interview for hosing down penguins in the desert. Practically everytime he answers a question, "they seem unhappy." Confused as to why this could be so amusing? You have to hear the song to know why. "Accurate Time" is another one of my favorites where Jim Harris goes off on how he has "something like 1200 clocks and they just keep ticking and ticking" and how he always trys to get them all at the exact same time, but he can't. The old phrase "inspired lunacy" definately applies to R.U.O.K.?. I would have to say that this is one of the best new acts I know of and hopefully we'll hear more from the slightly mad world of Jim Harris. And if you ever hear of R.U.O.K.? playing in your area, GO SEE IT! Trust me. You'll thank me.