Hailing from Chicago, ROOMMATE is KENT LAMBERT, and this is his first full-length album. 'Songs the Animals Taught Us' is an album populated with a vast array of characters, most of them archetypes of our Bush-era landscape: young, idealistic lovers who aren't afraid to die; war profiteers; middle-class workers fretting about the economy; upper-class society "status hounds." Few artists have been willing to shine a light so candidly on modern America, but Kent Lambert does so with aplomb. Possibly the most interesting inclusion on the album is Roommate's cover of BIG HEAD TODD & THE MONSTERS' "Dinner With Ivan". Roommate's production draws on an eclectic array of influences, both past and present: The skewed pop of XIU XIU and JENS LEKMAN, the down home instrumentation of NEIL YOUNG and THE BAND, the electronic flourishes of BROADCAST and M83, the ethereal beauty of MY BLOODY VALENTINE and COCTEAU TWINS - all are adopted by Roommate and refracted through his own distinctive lens. With 'Songs the Animals Taught Us', Roommate brings us a new voice that is very much of its time yet somehow timeless in its appeal. A sense of optimism pervades this album, even at its darkest, and this seems to communicate the larger message of Roommate: Even in the depths of despair, there is always hope.