Become You

In which Amy and Emily try to do what they do best, crafting poetic, witty and observant vignettes about love-life as we know it, with all its worrisome twists and turns, set to an eclectic mix of folk-rock and country. They’ve been doing it since 1985, so if you haven’t given in to their acoustic-based charms by now you probably aren’t destined to.

On the upside, Become You brings less of the intrusive syrupy strings and souped-up funkiness of recent outings. Instead you get a more straight-forward, radio-friendly, mainstream effort, perhaps best exemplified by the coffee-table sax on ‘You’ve Got To Show’.

The dull ‘Hope Alone’ simmers harmlessly like Celine Dion on Prozac, while the shifting ‘Collecting You’ could be from the Suzanne Vega songbook.

‘Starkville’ paints a graphic portrait of rural America and boasts a neat guitar figure over a shimmying rhythm subtly spiced with warm accordion chords. But ‘Our Deliverance’ is truly stunning, a folksy melody aided and abetted by that delicious accordion and mandolin. ‘She’s Saving Me’ is equally captivating, and any album that has a couple of classy tracks like ‘Moment Of Forgiveness’ and the poignant if inconclusive ‘Deconstruction’ deserves house-room at the very least.