When Ryan at the Catbirdseat posts on The Top Five 2007 Albums You Didn’t Hear, I scrambled to seek them out to see how they fair with my ears. He is, after all, the guy who released Dead Knowledge, the MoB favorite by Moviola, which if I were to put together a similar list of “Albums You Didn’t Hear,” would probably be on the top of my personal list.

The past two days I’ve been spinning Dolorean’s You Can’t Win, as the fast approaching winter made its way, now present with plenty of white evidence covering the ground – I’ve found a companion piece to my elements mandated seclusion within my apartment. Quietly balanced with with songs like “We Winter Wrens” that echo R.E.M. and combines scruffy, yet comforting banjo arrangements.

Calling Portland home, Dolorean is the name that breathes life into the musical creativity of Al James. You Can’t Win initially started off as a musical diary of James’ frustrations of “being broke and tired of personal relationships falling apart,” but became an album that is both emotionally heart-on-sleeve revealing and accepting what’s keeping you from moving forward, embracing it, and turning it into something beautiful.

You Can’t Win was released on Yep Roc Records, who are currently offering a complete album stream, which I’ll go ahead and request you check out. Fans of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago should find this one to be especially up their alley. I hope you’re as moved as I’ve been. Enjoy.

Myspace: Dolorean