"Next Exit" starts this album with a tone that gives the impression that it's been driving all night and hoping, rather than knowing, that the next exit has a motel. After a minute and a half, the same minor-key, violin and piano-driven melody becomes more urgent, paving the way for Thalia Zedek's smoke and whiskey voice. The album is loaded with intense and broody songs, but that doesn't mean the songs don't rock. This is a band that plays well, and plays hard—big guitars and big drums take over from the piano two-thirds of the way through the opening track, and it's this interplay of instruments that makes this an album that constantly demands listener attention. "Lower Allston" rocks along the sidewalk led by a trumpet and filled out by dirty guitars and thundering piano that together pulse out a big triplet-centered riff. "Do You Remember" asks its title question with a mixture of menace and care augmented by loud-soft transitions. It builds into a beautiful crescendo that drops off for a quiet ending. These descriptions essentially describe the template for this album. It's an hour of melodic, rocking, aching music that wears its country, blues and punk hats in a surprisingly complicated and layered way (let's ignore the fact that this metaphor has turned into layers of hats, okay?), and it's played by a terrific band. Of course, you might not like that kind of thing, you idiot.