Peg Simone

The well of influences that flows through the taproot of Peg Simone's newest effort is as strong as it is diaphanous. The Brooklyn, NY blues guitarist lets her love of both Patti Smith and Led Zeppelin fly on the clothesline of opener "Levee/1927." The spoken incantation that segues into a dimly lit cover of the classic track is more like a spell than a song. Ex-Swans drummer Jonathan Kane provides an unwavering anti-Bonzo beat that nails the heat exhaustion mood of the lengthy piece. Kane's wife (poet Holly Anderson) contributes text to three tracks that swim in the same Southern gothic current that spawned Harry Crews and Cormac McCarthy. Closer "Oh Holy Night" is a spoken piece of holiday domestic gloom involving a failed turkey murder set to jittering guitar and piano. It's a spectral work that oozes ectoplasmic blues from every haunted pore.