extremeley intriguing and sometimes even beguiling musical offering to truth, style, and feeling... all tracks are musically sound, inspiring, and thought-provoking.... the lyrics in shapeshifter and life's a mystery speak to me personally, culturally, and universally... it is amazing how here only two performers are conjuring the magic without making the listener feel guilty or a cheap voyeur/thrillseeker... for further and farther honesty i recommend also the followup with the sincere hope that their upcoming third album will not compromise or disappoint.... ps. in what follows only cdbaby and the artist need to heed... the only peeve nagging me is that the obvious comparison to marianne faithfull has been apparently never been raised to the level of even mentioning her name, but i can understand that this music even though steeped in jazz, blues,cabaret,and the avantgarde, is far removed from the image and the glamor of rock, which faithfull shared and tried to shake off, quite unsuccessfully it seems in this example of overlooking.... another possible peeve is the overspecific categorization of california pop, which i believe hurts search visibility..., and yes, there is a typo in the first title... but as one can easily surmise from all of this, the fact remains this album is a musical masterpiece and most hopefully should be treated as such by anyone who bought it and listened to it as i did...