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Thursday

A singer-songwriter seeking collaborators could have a worse pool to draw from than Robert Fripp, Calexico, Will Oldham, and Mercury Rev—and this is only a cross-section of the talent with whom smoky folk singer Nicolai Dunger has worked. On Dunger’s new album, Here’s My Song You Can Have It…I Don’t Want It Anymore/Yours 4-Ever, Mercury Rev provides an arrangement of slippery strings, Motown drums, and rootsy accouterments; on his current tour as a two-piece with longtime collaborator Thomas Tjärnkvist, the focus will deservedly be on Dunger’s greatest asset: his voice. Like Van Morrison, Dunger has that rare ability to make you feel exactly how he wants you to feel through pure sonics and skill. He claims that he is “just a guy singing and playing guitar or piano.” There are almost no guys who sing quite like this, or quite this well. Dunger opens for Rhett Miller at 8:30 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $15. (202) 667-7960. (Doug Tye)