Sunny Border Blue
Kristin Hersh'sSunny Border Blueexists in a snowed-in, two-room cabin, and she's stuck feeding the potbellied stove, hoping the chimney doesn't back up, braced always against the other. That other sometimes forms a lover, sometimes a friend, or a child, a confidante, or a betrayer--the figure's face shifts even as the singer flips from seeping anxious jealousy ("Spain") to railing ("37 Hours"). Hersh plays all instruments except on "Trouble," aCat Stevenscover that fits the smooth sonic landscape but stands out from her own songs in sticking to one emotional sensibility. Short on the noise and vocal histrionics of her earlier work,Sunny Border Bluebends the ear and, by extension, the listener's nervous system.--Andrew Hamlin