(Ecstatic Peace) ****
BEST known for his freaked-out workouts on the edge of what's listenable, James Jackson Toth decided his new album should be something totally unexpected.
Having immersed himself in old Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings albums, he's hooked up with Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley to cook up a bold, pure album of twisted folk and off-kilter country.
In places his voice apes that of the folky Marc Bolan, in others it sounds like something altogether more dangerous.
Lyrically, as well as musically, these songs inhabit territory the likes of Nick Cave would feel right at home in - Future Dream considers the woman who chopped a finger off to highlight the plight of the poor while proclaiming "my brain was the stuff of neurological lore".
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