While the fascists (read: purists) may be screaming "sellout" because decided to record something other than this time out, the rest of us can enjoy the considerable fruit of her labors. is, without question, a record in the same manner her other outings are. The fact that it isn't made up of musty and dusty "classics" may irk the narrow-minded and reactionary, but it doesn't change the fact that this bold recording is a record made with care, creativity, and a wonderfully intimate aesthetic fueling its 12 songs. Produced by and , the non-original material ranges from the Mississippi-fueled jazzed-up of 's to contemporary songs that are reinvented in 's image by ( ), ), and her husband, ). These covers are striking. 's read of 's tune rivals his and adds an entirely different shade of meaning, as does her swinging, jazzy, -infused take on 's sexy nugget via its first hitmaker, . Her interpretation of ' is far more sultry than 's because understands this song to be a tune rather than a jazzy song. exists in its own space in the terrain of the album, because understands that is not mere articulation but interpretation. Likewise, her reverent version of takes it out of its original setting and brings it back to the . As wonderful as these songs are, however, they serve a utilitarian purpose; they act as bridges to the startling, emotionally charged poetics in the material has composed with . Totaling half the album, this material is full of grief, darkness, and a tentative re-emergence from the shadows. It begins in the noir-ish melancholy of the title track, kissed with bittersweet agony by The grain in 's pained voice relates an edgy third-person tale that is harrowing in its lack of revelation and in the way it confounds the listener; it features on bass and on drums. In evokes the voices of ghosts such as in a sturdy hip vernacular that channels the early beat . The lyric is solid and wonderfully evocative not only of time and place, but of emotional terrain. 's solo in the tune is stunning. graced by overtones, is a tentative step into hope with its opening line: "Narrow daylight enters the room, winter is over, summer is near." This glimmer of hope is short-lived, however, as reveals the shattered promise in the aftermath of dying love. which close the set, are both underscored by the grief experienced at the loss of 's mother. They are far from sentimental, nor are they sophomoric, but through the eloquence of 's wonderfully sophisticated melodic architecture and rhythmic parlance they express the experience of longing, of death, and of acceptance. The former features a beautiful solo by guitarist and the latter, in its starkness, offers memory as reflection and instruction. This is a bold new direction by an artist who expresses great willingness to get dirt on her hands and to offer its traces and smudges as part and parcel of her own part in extending the tradition, through confessional language and a wonderfully inventive application that is caressed by, not saturated in, elegant . ~ Thom Jurek