Arguably the finest voice in rock/indie, lovely lush compositions utilize instruments that usually get all rootsy but they don’t here (despite Case’s association with the whole Hardly Strictly Bluegrass crowd). Case came to fame singing with New Pornographers, a band that along with the ilk of Decemberists pretty much broke whats referred to as “indie rock” these days (being cited in Penthouse as “the most beautiful woman in music” that year didn’t hurt either). This CD continues her delving into dark western tinged drama, as folks like Nick Cave did before her, and once again recording with Craig Schumaker down in Tucson with the likes of the Calexico guys, Howe Gelb, M. Ward, Kelly Hogan, AC Newman et al, pretty much an allstar cast. Fantastic, as always.

1) (2:40) waltzing, lovely airiness, serenity
2) (3:48) another ¾, with an an epic 70’s ballad feel
3) FCCs
4) (3:02) solo acoustic ballad
5) (2:19) big full band sound
6) FCCs (too bad cuz it’s a real charmer)
7) (2:37) lovely semi acoustic, upbeat
8) (4:08) hit quality, textured rock, lots of instruments all playing interesting stuff, strong beat
9) (2:21) chill, sparser ballad
10) Nick Cavey drama with bells, epic, sad, soaring
11) (3:27) starts with ambient sounds, then a soulful a cappela, chill until past midway a ¾ beat appears with layers of instrumentation, wow
12) (5:14) big epic with brass arrangements (CAREFUL, track ends with 53 seconds left, a silly burp at very end and comment)