Now, how do you categorise the music? Perhaps if you imagine Randy Newman maxing out on angst and Americana then you would have a fair mental picture of what this band is all about. The lyrics are clever and point at disenchantment with a largely unexciting life as in \"Series of Short Affairs\". It is almost as if the school geek got into poetry and vented his frustrations in song. Well, it would have been if it wasn\'t funny. Reminiscing on small town psychos in \"The Malingerer\", there\'s the line - \"Even if you\'ve never met him, there\'s a chance that he might already have a grudge against you\". That\'s pretty much how it works. Even \"9lb Booze\", which starts off like a good old fashioned country hoedown, takes a right turn at sarcasm junction before crashing into a truck named hypocrisy. Clever stuff that stays a mile away from self indulgence (and Santana, for that matter). There\'s a humorous and intelligent approach to storytelling on show here and that gives this album lasting value. Like a good book, you can come back to it time and time again. A little gem unearthed from the sands of mediocrity, this album is worth seeking out.

New and ancient harrowing acoustical reverberations. Tortured, beautiful cosmic vibrations and mystical entanglements. The sounds and the words tread deep. Buy it already.