A NEW LIFE is a pretty damn good CD.Ifyou would liketo hear whatagushycritic (paid relative)had to sayscrolldownjusta bitfurther:Michael Caufield's A NEW LIFE has an atmospheric strength grounded in the dangerous land of the 'feeling' self. This is the land peopled with the likes of navel-gazing blowhards, touchy-feely puke-heads, desensitized I-feel-your-painers, suck-so-bad-that-you-don't-even-knowers, etc. This is also the land where the Beatles ruled and Picasso drooled and Sinatra cooed and U2 got refueled. 'Feel' is the delusion that provides great art as well as great laughs and the occasional suicide. Feel kicks reason's a** 90% of the time. A NEW LIFE has a feel that displays the strength of originality (albeit more loopingly) that allowed singer songwriters like Jackson Browne and Traci Chapman to 'arrive' with their first release. The overall sound is more ambitious and full than that of many acoustic guitar-based songwriters. The in-the-studio multi-instrumentalism of Michael combines with only a drummer to produce an impressive array of sounds. Note the way the floating trumpets coalesce at the end of"Let me in" or the way the electric guitar solo crushingly closes"Out on the edge" or the way the Rubber Soul-like bass line orders"Living in a shoe" or the way the piano delicately complements"Beneath" -- the musical interplay is tightly wound yet moves across a varied universe. It takes at least three or four listens to really catch all the movement and grace going on in A NEW LIFE, a pity given how busy the world is. But should you manage the multiple trips, this CD would allow you to feel a part of the unseen world tied up in the wonderful maze known as art.