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Will Hoge’s first studio album (after a self-released live set) opens with one of the most powerful one-two punches in the history of pop music: the headlong “She Don’t Care,” which is immediately followed by “Let Me Be Lonely,” a desperate plea to an ex-girlfriend to leave him alone — delivered as a brilliantly hooky blast of emotional intensity and over in less than two minutes. The rest of the album is almost as good.

Rick Anderson

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