Just when you think you’ve pinned down the voice of Jolie Holland, it shifts. The same quavering note steeped in Billie Holiday intertwines with Lucinda Williams and a touch of a twanged-up Fiona Apple to make Holland’s own kind of Americana. It’s a voice that will either annoy or enchant you with its jazz-inflected hillbillyness. In this, the follow-up to her 2004 studio debut, Escondida, Holland surrenders to a bittersweet spring of mockingbirds, moonshine, crazy dreams, thistle and honeysuckle. With a modest chorus of steel and electric guitar, upright bass, piano and even a momentary tuba, she leads you to a place where you dangle your feet in cool creek waters or sit on a wooden porch, whistling in a minor key.
Springtime Can Kill You
