Marc di Giacomo's bio says he's been a member of the Big Earl Band, the Wompus Cats, the Bliss Hounds and Coaster, and a visit to his MySpace page indicates he's also singing for Big Lion. But Where You Belong, his second acoustic album, highlights his strong skills as a solo songwriter and guitarist, giving his simple folk melodies, emotive voice and lyrical skills an opportunity to shine. DiGiacomo cites influences as varied as Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Jerry Garcia and Metallica on his website, but sonically he's more in the realm of Nick Drake, Cat Stevens and Colin Meloy (of Decemberists fame).

Several of the songs on Where You Belong could easily find a home on The Crane Wife, including album opener "Ancient Sun," with its pleasant melody and quirky, evocative lyrics ("Tomorrow you'll pour your wine / We'll sit with the city's / Fortune tellers, together"). Of course, any cover of such a song would likely involve more than just a single instrument, and one of the best things about Where You Belong is that it's just a guy and his guitar, telling simple stories to delight the listener. Most of these are penned by diGiacomo himself (From "Sunrise": "Far overhead blue is strangling black / The stars will be gone / Before I turn my back"), but several songs come from other writers, including album closer, Jerry Garcia's "High Time," an obvious influence on diGiacomo's style. Dylanesque influences are also readily apparent throughout the album (especially in the pleasant original "Movin' On"), and diGiacomo does a good job with Dylan's Baby Blue, presented here with a somewhat more upbeat tempo than one might expect.

Favorite Track: "High Time"

Michael Fiegel is a freelance writer and graphic designer. His diverse background includes journalism, radio copywriting, technical writing, game design and music reviewing. He is best known as the creator of the Internet cult sensation, Ninja Burger. He can be reached at aeon@aeforge.com or at his website, www.aeforge.com.