Mitch Linker picked a hell of a time to come back to music.
After starting what became a 13-year break when the Great Recession hit, the Hartford-area singer and songwriter resumed releasing music in the spring of 2020 with the EP “I’ll Take My Chances.” As you may recall, that was a moment when pretty much the entire world was preoccupied with other matters, and though Linker’s new stuff was tuneful and well constructed, his take on a sleek adult-contemporary sound didn’t stand much chance of cutting through the tumult of everything else that was going on. Undaunted, Linker kept at it. The former singer for regional bands the Dent and the Day Traders released another EP in the fall of 2020, and returned this month with “In Time,” his first new LP since “Learn How to Love” in 2007.
Without question, “In Time” is his most accomplished work. Recorded with Brett Kull in suburban Philadelphia, these 10 songs are packed full of bright hooks, tight musical arrangements and a wistful sensibility, and Linker sings with easy confidence. It’s pop music for grown-ups.
Linker unspools a dizzying string of rhymes on the chorus to album opener “Catastrophizing,” about the all-too-common tendency our brains have to spin out doomsday romance scenarios. He’s accompanied by bold backing vocals and a strong blend of electric guitars and keyboards. Linker contemplates a relationship that’s not quite long distance on “The Hour’s Drive,” his sandy voice rising above a bed of piano and acoustic guitars as kaleidoscopic wordless harmonies swirl around him. Elsewhere, on “I Used to Know,” Linker muses about a bygone version (or maybe an unrealized vision) of himself, accompanied by punchy guitar licks and a taut, candy-colored chorus that practically takes flight.
You can hardly blame Linker for walking away from music when he did: years of working his tail off had left him with his finances in tatters, and a desire for stability. Thankfully, he found his way back. Unexpectedly, he has shaken off whatever rust or cobwebs may have accumulated to return at full strength with “In Time.”