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Saltbreakers

by Laura Veirs

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What Suzanne Vega was to the East Coast--working at the intersection of folk and art songs--Laura Veirs has become to the Pacific Northwest. With organic imagery and a sense of open-eyed, open-hearted wonder, her songs seem to hover between the sea and the stars and to take inspiration from each. Though "To the Country" is the undisputed highlight here, featuring a luminous call-and-response with the Cedar Hill Choir and guest guitar from Bill Frisell, Veirs extends her range from the soul groove of the title track (which is also now the name of her band, formerly the Tortured Souls) to the propulsive rock of "Phantom Mountain." Even when her material flirts with preciousness ("Nightingale") or conforms more to folk convention, the musical settings entrance. --Don McLeese