This NJ/NYC singer-songwriter, now residing in California, makes gentle, trilling American acoustic music. The current West Coast locale makes me think of Keep Recordings, on whose confessional, countryish roster Cotton would fit quite nicely. Some songs here edge a bit too close to Joni Mitchell for comfort (?Never End?) and some lyrics are a bit raw (?How foolish of me to think that you mean what you say,? from ?Oh What a Waste?), but Cotton sells them with assured playing and arranging. Songs like lo-fi opener ?Half a Dream? and organ-accented ?Stationary Days? stand out, the former for its lullaby-like gentility and the latter for its darker, more obsessive feel. A pleasant debut. 6/10 -- Sal Addays (27 June, 2006)