Reunited with multi-instrumentalist , her collaborator on project, on her second solo album again clearly demonstrates her musical abilities as being no less adept than those of her bandmate/partner (whose own solo debut album, , was released in concert along with ). All songs were written wholly by her, excepting a weirdly jaunty, live radio-session take of the track accompanied only by on acoustic guitar. Unlike the constantly varied album, has more of a unified feel, being mostly moody and mysterious with echoed or muffled percussion, and it's all done in a distinctly different way than ' at-times obsessively structured epic pounding. for instance, relies on an understated approach throughout, with low keyboard tones and percussive shuffling floating beneath her husky spoken-word recitation and wordless backing vocals. Another quality of her music that gets good play is her ear for, and creative work with, samples; includes some wonderfully odd reworkings of crowd and orchestral snippets. While familiar religious and sexual imagery and scenarios dominate the lyrics, a more general playfulness appears as well, on such numbers like a recitation of desirable qualities that are indeed anything but logical, and on the one actual rocker on the disc, a wickedly barbed analysis of what it takes to play the music industry game as a female rock star, along with what you lose along the way. Another equally striking lyrical thread emerges in fairy-tale-like scenarios, as in and ; both sound playful and quite disturbing, in the best children's story fashion. Not merely an accomplished statement of musical independence, is simply a great album. It should be of interest to anyone who's unafraid of moving beyond the musical norm. ~ Ned Raggett