A big part of the songwriter’s job comes down to storytelling: do you have a good one to tell, and are you able to use words and music to draw the listener into the world you’re creating?

After last year’s richly textured “Americana power-pop” LP Killing The Old Ways, Long Island singer-songwriter Pete Mancini returned this spring with the quieter, more story-focused EP The Commonwealth Sessions: Vol. 1. This time around Mancini records almost solo and leans into the Americana side of his musical recipe, forgoing the electric riffing and occasional synths heard on Killing in favor of chiming acoustics and a variety of subtler sonic flavors that push even more focus onto the stories themselves.

“Golden Hour” kicks things off with a suitably warm-hued jangle that has more than a little Gram Parsons in its bones, with Mancini layering acoustic, dobro, bass and subtle electric slide accents over Joe Leone’s drums. The lyric is an incisive takedown of the self-deception practiced by wealthy folks striving to appear above it all: “You look so good at golden hour / Savor the scene ‘fore it all turns sour / Sell the world your carefree vibes / Cover the bruises that you want to hide.”

Banjo features on “College Town,” a lilting character study that does an excellent job of weaving the upbeat elements of the music together with the melancholy lurking just underneath, underscored by Delaney Hafener’s harmony vocals. “She’s caught in the breeze like the autumn leaves falling down / Singing the songs of a thousand hearts in a college town,” Mancini sings in this subtle, arresting character study.

Just when you’re looking for a change of pace, along comes the winking barroom saga “Thanksgiving Eve,” with more than a little Hank Williams and George Strait evident in its glum wit. The remarkable part is that Mancini sketches the whole story in the first 45 seconds—“It’s Thanksgiving Eve / And I’m back at the bar again / Just me and my old friends / And some townies we know / I ain’t feeling thankful / There’s a belt on my ankle”—while managing to bring fresh shading and details to each verse and chorus that follows, steadily fleshing out this character’s fully realized world.

Another Mancini influence is Woody Guthrie, so it’s no surprise when he adds to his collection of pointed protest songs with the folky yet anthemic “The Law Of The River.” Adding accordion to his acoustic and banjo, Mancini sings from the perspective of a Native American observing the damage done to Mother Earth. “You can't put out a fire with money and lies” goes one especially piquant line on the way to this beautiful chorus: “The law of the river / Ain't for you to decide / You're just leaves on the stream / In the ocean of time.”  

The five-song set closes with the haunting, intense “Sirens And Ashes,” a tribute to a friend who survived 9/11 but was never quite the same. It’s a story not so much about that specific moment, as about the way a traumatic experience can echo on and on through people’s lives: “The years went by / They read the names / Some wounds never heal / You learn to live with the pain.”

The Commonwealth Sessions: Vol. 1 has the close-up, raw-and-simple feel of a bedroom album by a singer-songwriter who’s honing his craft day by day with the mics turned on. You get to watch over Mancini’s shoulder as he considers the lives of these five characters, their flaws and obstacles, hopes and dreams, and tries to make sense of it all and figure out what comes next. The journey Pete Mancini takes us on here is one well worth taking, populated by memorable characters who are just like you and me: frozen in the moment, trying to figure out what their next move should be.

Rating: B+

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