Singer/Songwriter and occasional Pedro the Lion/Damien Jurado contributor TW Walsh is quickly becoming indie rock's answer to the woebegotten street corner troubadour -- his defiantly Neil Young-ish croon and seemingly endless canon of songs about misery, lost hope and forgotten innocence make him the perfect candidate for the job. However, that somewhat unenviable trait certainly says something about both Walsh and his music -- namely that, in an age where everyone is aching to be a rock star, he is more than willing to play the role of the understated/underappreciated minstrel. There's certainly nothing flashy or controversial about Pollensongs, but listening to it, you can't help but feel as if that's exactly how Walsh intended it to be. Tracks like "Stories about the Truth" and "Prisoner of War" revel in their simplicity, emphasizing their points through a plaintive whisper rather than a histrionic yelp. More than ever before, Walsh's songs ("All Stops Applied" in particular) rely on subtle charms and disparate imagery, making him a stylistic dead-ringer for the late Nick Drake. While bereft of the usual glitz and glam we've come to expect from our performers, Pollensongs succeeds on the strength of its starkness and the unerring belief that it's the music, not the ego of the artist(s) performing it, that conquers all.