Although her previous two releases had seen Suzie Ungerleider (aka
Oh Susanna) mining a gothic country vein à la
Gillian Welch, Sleepy Little Sailor abandons this turf in favour of a more straightforward approach. Although the album gets off to a good start with the title track, much of the rest of the material falls straight into the category of well-played but slightly faceless countrified rock. There are still glimmers of that potential peeking through here: "All That Remains" is another ode to sin and salvation, "Sacrifice" is a moody number about a love lost, and the epic "Ride On" closes the album. Much of the rest of the album contains melancholy material, but it's cut with more traditional numbers like "Ted's So Wasted" and the cover of "I've Got Dreams to Remember," which undercut the mood. To be sure, it's a nice album, but after the menacing promise of the previous two releases, it certainly seems like a letdown. ~ Sean Carruthers