Arise Therefore

With an unyielding Maya Tone drum machine deliberately stifling the rhythms, and a stubborn backing band intent on a desolate minimalism, Will Oldham assembled his lowest-key album to date. His poetry is often elusive, occasionally vulgar, but always in keeping with an ominous, creeping vibe that suggests the world is about to end in a whimper. His unorthodox vocals — Neil Young taken to the breaking point — yield an unusual emotional catharsis. "The Sunlight Highlights the Lack In Each" captures the aesthetic perfectly. The vocals clash with errant piano chords, a wah-wah guitar that sounds accidentally stumbled upon, and that half-dazed feeling when one is in twilight and unable to distinguish between dreams and reality. Oldham's songs are among his best. "Stablemate," "A Sucker's Evening," "No Gold Digger," and "Disorder" stand among his most haunted tales. He's drifting away from the mountain-folk and country leanings of his earlier work and discovering new, austere territory that's virtually without category, either intriguing or alienating the listener with its sense of mystery.