Fuse [ENHANCED CD]
Joe Henry has the instincts of a good storyteller--he can capture a lifetime of small victories and even smaller defeats in a few seemingly offhand phrases--paired with a sensualist's delight in sonic pleasure. Recorded with help from producersDaniel LanoisandT Bone Burnett,Fuseis an atmospheric marvel, full of heavy-lidded grooves, lonesome trumpets, and desiccated lust. "Want Too Much" captures that moment when desire curdles into despair, and "Beautiful Hat" offers the stately elegance of a Crescent City funeral march. But the album's greatest marvel is "Great Lake," which begins, "Terri comes in laughing, shakes her coat off, and I just can't bear to look." The song only gets better from there, thanks to a liquid bass line and Henry's ability to squeeze four conflicting emotions from the repeated use of one key word. IfRaymond Carverhad written songs instead of stories and enjoyed life as much as he suffered, he might have sounded like this.--Keith Moerer