This seven-track companion piece to
Blitzen Trapper's superb 2008 release,
Furr (all of the tracks have been available to fans since early 2008 in CD-R form at the band's shows), is built around that album's darkest moment, the murder ballad "Black River Killer." While the six tracks that follow don't wallow in the same waters of failed redemption as the title track, they do cling to
Furr's folksier moments, resulting in a solid addendum for those who prefer
Blitzen Trapper's
Bob Dylan meets
the Grateful Dead fetish over their visceral, vaguely psychedelic Southern indie rock jams. Standout cuts like the breezy "Preacher's Sister's Boy," the
Beatlesque "Going Down," and the straight-up
Skynrd-tastic "Big Black Bird" offer further proof that the Pacific Northwest (home of
the Fleet Foxes and
M. Ward) is not so quietly reinventing Americana for the 21st century. ~ James Christopher Monger