Jana Hunter: There's No Home

Label: Gnomonsong

“Freak folk” is a pretty vague term at this point (can we switch to FOD – Friends of Devendra – and just stop pretending any of these people sound alike?), except that I almost always like the music by people who get tagged with the term. This Texas singer-songwriter’s second album is no exception. Psychedelic touches are slight but telling – electric guitar sliding in from a distance is a favorite – and often absent. Her lyrics are enigmatic, all her titles except the one that gives the album its name are single words, and what I can decipher from her low, unisex voice seems dark and unsettling. Yet the music that results, if only rarely upbeat, is beautiful in its gentle, drawling progress. (Steve)