Ron Sexsmith was not blessed with a particularly assertive singing voice, so his vocalizing is never something that stops you (the listener) dead in your tracks. Instead, he was born with a gift for turning concise human truisms into meaningful and memorable lyrical lines. His latest unassuming release, Retriever, requires that close attention be paid to it. And if this simple user instruction is followed, it’s an album that will provide a bevy of heartwarming revelations. One song in particular that stands out above all the rest here, as probably the best song Morrissey never wrote, is called “Imaginary Friends.” It takes deadly aim at the wasted social efforts involving superficial friendships. These are the friends, as Sexsmith insightfully puts it, “(That) meet you when your ship comes in/But never meet you eye to eye.” And he later summarizes, “Imaginary friends/They don’t exist.” Another striking song is “For The Driver,” which empathizes with people suffering ...