Vancouver singer/songwriter Mark Berube is much more than another dapper, well-travelled dude. Exhibit A: the guy can write a song called “Pretty Little Bird” that is nowhere near as na•ve and nauseating as the title suggests. Instead, that track – like many on this album – contains wonderful images and narrative portraiture that suggests he's studied closely at the feet of Mr. Waits and Mr. Cohen. Berube's lyrical travels take him to Montreal, Berlin, Vancouver, New York City, Africa and an unnamed battleground in the poignant “War Without End,” which dodges any modern-day specifics and sounds appropriately timeless. Musically, on the other hand, he's usually at home, parked on his piano stool and conjuring classic cabaret melodies with a rainy West Coast morning outside his door. His good luck streak continues with elegant string arrangements, sympathetic production and a soaring voice that reminds us what Rufus Wainwright and Hawksley Workman would sound like if they weren't such drama queens.