Dirty Vegas guest vocalist
Susan Dillane's band,
Woodbine, updates trip-hop with late-night electronic folk songs that recall both
Broadcast and
Beth Orton. On the Birmingham, U.K., band's debut, guitarist (and original
Cornershop member) Rob Healy lays down dreamy, spare guitar riffs that pay homage to
the Velvet Underground,
Galaxie 500, and
Luna, while
Graeme Swindon's bass and beats take the group into
Stereolab's territory -- albeit
Stereolab tipsy and confused at four in the morning. "Neskwik" finds
Woodbine in a hazy half-rant of
Cat Power wordplay cast against raw guitars. You get the idea that
Woodbine could have been a punk band if the bandmembers didn't have such a gift for subtlety. "Been Where You Are" is so light that it seems to float out of the speakers, while calling to mind the moonlit shimmer of
Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions or
Mojave 3 without the sunshine. Thanks to mixing by
Neil Hagerty and
Jennifer Herrema of
Royal Trux, the album keeps that atmosphere all the way through -- the mix is somehow distant and intimate at the same time, like listening to music as you drift off to sleep.