Over The Rhine: Drunkard’s Prayer

(Herald rating: * * * *)

Eighteen months ago this alt.folk duo from Cincinnati delivered an impressive double disc - Ohio - which brought to mind Rickie Lee Jones and early Lucinda Williams, and evoked lonesome nights in empty diners and the great heartland of an imagined America. Now comes this follow-up, a more manageable single disc which distils their magic even better.

Singer Karin Bergquist sometimes brings to mind a less jaded Lucinda in her lazy delivery (I Want You To Be My Love), reminds you of an acoustic folk cousin to Williams' I Just Want To See You So Bad but elsewhere she soars (Spark) or digs into half-suggested emotions (I learned to laugh, through my tears).

Recording in their living room, Bergquist and partner Linford Detweiler, have kept the instrumentation lowkey, never letting the guitars, piano, upright bass and the mournful sax get in the way of Bergquist's enticing voice.

Their strength is in elegant, memorable songs and a sustained mood like that on the Cowboy Junkies' similarly conceived debut. The pace seldom rises above a heartbeat, and it goes out with a terrific treatment of My Funny Valentine. Timeless, and a keeper.

Label: EMI