The Way to Bitter Lake

The debut album by singer/songwriter Spider (aka Jane Herships) is folk-rock so delicately spun, sung, and played that it makes for the aural impression of a straw hat that will crumble into pieces at the slightest touch. The vocals are wispy to the point of whispering deliberation, and the backing is usually centered around (and sometimes limited to) soft acoustic guitar. It's almost as if the hesitant, almost nervous phrasing of cult '70s singer/songwriter Dory Previn and the ethereal intimacy of even more obscure early '70s songstress Vashti Bunyan have been combined and updated for the 21st century alternative folk community. Hints of something a little more acidic enter from time to time, like the searing distorted guitar that suddenly burns a hole through the end of "Maggie's Song for Alice" or the eerie sustained blips of psychedelic guitar flecked upon "I Don't Know if She Had Any Teeth Because She Never Smiled." The brief "End Song" matches her subdued vocals with squawking feedback-ridden guitar, almost as if to vent energy that's been repressed throughout the whole record, though it's not at all typical of the album. This CD isn't on the Gnomonsong label, but it sure sounds like something that could have been — and in a way, it's good that it isn't, as it might have gotten somewhat lost on a roster full of artists with some similar inclinations.