The Weather Station

This is the second album from the Weather Station (aka singer-songwriter Tamara Lindeman), a member of acclaimed ensemble Bruce Peninsula. Her 2009 debut, The Line, featured adventurous folk, while this lovely effort is sparser in its approach. The sessions took place with producer Daniel Romano at his home studio in Welland, ON, and he adds guitars, drums, bass and backing vocals. Lindeman plays guitar and banjo, with Bruce Peninsula comrade Misha Bower adding some background vocals. Much of the album is simple and largely unadorned folk that concentrates on the sweet intimacy of Lindeman's voice and her poetic imagery. Her vocals are reminiscent of an early Joni Mitchell on "Came So Easy," or of something you'd hear on an early '70s album on Asylum. She even splits the record into side one and two, with a short running time (28 minutes). Just when things threaten to become a bit too wispy and ethereal, Romano chimes in with noisier guitar parts to ground things, as on "Know it to See it" and "Nobody." This ranks alongside Jennifer Castle's recent album as new folk of the highest order.