The always-alluring
Jennifer Charles is the focal point of
Elysian Fields, and her aching purr goes a long way in making the band as enticing as it is. But it is not so clear-cut as to who is the architect of their sound, because beneath that fantastic voice on a song such as "Bayonne,"
Oren Bloedow's arrangement, as minimalistic as the song seems to be, turns out to be the Venus flytrap of the tune. With just some stoned, lackadaisical drumming and droopy-eyed Rhodes piano falling like raindrops, the song subtly makes some rather radical shifts and chord progressions. The listener doesn't even realize they've been caught in the musical web until
Charles comes along to devour them, but it is the music that actually does the snagging. So it goes for the entirety of the duo's second album (and first on Jetset following a split with former label Radioactive, who refused to release a previous album they had recorded with producer
Steve Albini),
Queen of the Meadow, a deliciously mesmerizing and irresistible opus that is a perfect confluence of sly and furtive (but very much narrative) musical backdrops and lusty insinuation.