No Such Place
IfJim Carroll, Barry Gifford, and David Lynch all decided to put on a show calledLost Highway: The Musical, or ifLou ReedandNeil Youngwere to scoreSling Blade II, they might come up with something that sounds likeNo Such Place. The sophomore album from twisted Florida crooner Jim White stylishly evokes the dark delights of both alt-country and good old junkie rock. "I'm handcuffed to a fence in Mississippi / Where things is always better than they seem," sings White on the album opener, serving notice that his gallows humor is as arch as ever. But there's also a poignancy in songs such as "Corvair" (with it's rusted-out car metaphor and achingHarvest-era vocal) that demonstrates White's continuing growth as an artist. With trip-hop producersMorcheebaandQ-Burns Abstract Messagegiving the proceedings a modern gloss (along with assists fromSadekeyboardist Andrew Hale andYellow Magic Orchestra's Sohichiro Suzuki), these tales of gas station attendants, serial killers, and other troubled souls should help keep the Southern gothic tradition alive until White's next album.--Bill Forman