Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele

“Meet Me in the Garden”
from the album The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele
2009
iTunes

“Welcome to my record,” Dent May croons in a deep, syrupy drawl at the beginning his Magnificent Ukulele’s debut full-length (the prolific Mississippian has already had several genre-spanning projects). Much like the moniker and basic modus operandi (he plays ukulele on all but one track here, augmented by a band), the introduction at first feels a little gimmicky. But further inspection reveals a charming (“Oh, Paris!”) and often hilarious (“God Loves You, Michael Chang”) songwriter who waxes delightful throughout these dozen tracks. What The Good Feeling lacks in variation it makes up for with clever turns of phrase and simple, contagious melodies — those, and one exaggerated wink in the direction of fellow purveyors of wit and whimsy, Jens Lekman and Jonathan Richman. No wonder Animal Collective signed this dude to Paw Tracks after seeing him live once. May and his Magnificent Ukulele quickly make for endearing company.