The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We Review

After the synthetic brightness of the previous album, this is all wood and air: acoustic guitars, brushed drums, pedal steel, strings, and a choir of seventeen voices used as a proper instrument rather than as decoration. My Love Mine All Mine is the one that travelled everywhere, and it deserves to have, a simple statement about wanting to leave something behind that never overreaches.

Bug Like an Angel opens with a solo guitar and then the choir crashes in on a single word, which is the most startling production decision on any of her records. The Deal is a fable about giving away your soul. I Don't Like My Mind is funny and awful in the same breath. Star and Heaven are lovely. It is quieter and less immediate than the peak records, and a couple of tracks pass without leaving much, which keeps it a step below the very best. It is also the most beautifully recorded thing she has made.