Saenz's Watertown is a place of poetic reflection and rumination. Saenz thinks about what he sees, hears and feels, and it shows in his songs. The phrases here are generally as well turned as a classic quatrain, and he frequently hits on keen observations and resonant images. With the able musical assistance of the Cherry Ridge Studios crew of steel guitarist Tommy Detamore and fiddler/guitarist/mandolinist Bobby Flores, Saenz's songs become atmospheric mood pieces that gently seduce the ears like a Texan cousin to the linear country-rock of Son Volt. But that said, little here ever truly grabs one's attention, and Saenz would do his fine writing a service by enunciating his words more clearly.
These observations are mere quibbles, however, with such a genuine artist. The prevailing gray-day patina of Watertown might beg a bit more sunshine, and Saenz would be more persuasive if he ladled out a dollop more authority, but he's marked himself here as a gifted singer-songwriter whose craft shows care and a poetic flair. If he develops more distinctiveness and power in his presentation, Mando Saenz might one day be someone another developing talent wisely chooses to emulate.
