After a tearful debut album that embraced the chord simplicity of and the guitar tones and slow-burning melancholy of and , and friends return with more heartache on 's second album, . A somewhat livelier, more fully arranged album -- but only somewhat -- it finds our protagonist past the point of tears but seemingly resigned to loneliness. It begins with a humming synth drone, chirping songbirds, and simple, low guitar on "Missing." When ' voice enters, it's with a whispery winter memory of kissing -- when nothing was missing -- before she brings us up to date with "March is crying/But the flowers bloom," and with that, the scene is set. The lusher, bittersweet "Good Stuff," with its layers of shimmering reverb, is easily the album's most positive ("I'm hanging on to the sunshine"), although its good times are stuck in the past ("Remember when we met?"). More uptempo, irritated tracks like "Something Blue" and "Screaming, Dreaming" are almost grungy, and, longing for affection, takes a seductive turn on songs like "Nothing Lasts" and breathy highlight "Sweet." On the whole, though, is languid and stoic, with its few hopeful, determined lyrics tempered by phrases like "born blue," "sick of trying," and "caught up in the rain." If there is any doubt about her state of mind by the end, it's settled by the devastating (and timeless) closer "No One," which takes less than 90 seconds to affirm "No one loves me anymore" ("I've been trying to change/But you and I know that people just stay the same"). While that song is hard-hitting enough to count as a standout, is nothing if not consistent, with 11 gifts for the lonely-hearted. ~ Marcy Donelson