In some ways it's business as usual on Nina's first album for Fat Cat. Steve Albini's immaculate engineering has been retained, as have regular sidemen Steven Beck, Dylan Willemsa, Jay Bellarose and Jim White. On the other hand, whilst all her albums could be described as sparse, with extremely subtle underpinnings in the playing, on this record studio artifice has been further stripped away so the sound is reminiscent of her smaller live performance settings, led by Nina and her guitar. Some of the songs, too, have featured in her live sets for some time and have been carefully chosen for their coherence in this 34 minute set.
The songs represent a dozen intimate insights into Nina's everyday world laid bare. Shockingly, this time some light has been allowed in. Brad Haunts A Party and Counting Up Your Bones may be familiarly dark, but in between these two songs lies Our Day Trip, describing a perfect day, albeit one which is yet to happen. Dare we admit the possibility that one day it may?
So good that artists this skilled and individual can still find an outlet for their muse in these banal, corporate times.
