In "Over and Out", David Stoller's one-man music comes across like East River Pipe, albeit slowed down and peppered with feedback. On and emotional and musical level it's very strong, and so enjoyable that I hoped the remaining songs would be variations upon that theme. Instead, I discovered that David Stoller isn't just a person who stumbled upon a great sound. He's a stellar talent, not to mention an example of a great musician unable to find much label support, indie or major. "In these sane eyes", which should delete the "sane" from its title, is three minutes of reflective guitar pop that builds to a soaring finish; it's followed by "To have, to hold", a song that puts David at the piano before pushing him back to the feedback. When it gets noisy, it gets fantastic, and the track carries enough emotion that you never remember David can't play piano too well. We're midway through the CD now, and I confess to understanding only a few of the words in his mumbled lyrics.

Still, the songs are extremely affecting, with the extended guitar passage in "In the Vortex" once again conjuring the feeling that while Stoller is "just" a guy in a bedroom, he knows how to capture feelings of loneliness and distance on tape. You could call him My Bloody Lonesome Valentine; his work is reminiscent of great acts like Clarify -- or, in the closing thirty seconds of "Drugs and Birthday Cake", Sonic Youth gone right. While 12 minutes of "A Starry Elegy" is somewhat torturesome -- and at least six minutes too much -- I'm happy to say that Exist's riveting debut ends on the high note with which it began. "Slowly Passed" puts keyboards to haunting effect, while "You Live Forever, But Things End" finally allows the lyrics to be heard and enjoyed. There may be a lot of interesting self-released CDs out there, but few have the strength and consistency to truly exist in your CD player, day after day, as well as There I Was, Here I Am.