Sultry
singer/songwriter
Michelle Casillas
' band,
Ursa Minor
, blurs the line between
folk
,
jazz
, and
experimental
music on the group's debut,
Silent Moving Picture
, with haunting, spare, even cinematic songs. From the dreamy opener,
"Works Like a Charm,"
to the noir-ish
"Damage Control"
and
"The Frame,"
sounds as bold and original as
Portishead
's
Dummy
. Throughout the album, the band maintains a subtly powerful and consistent tone while hopscotching from a
PJ Harvey
swagger (
"Down Like That Again"
) to
Tori Amos
-style elegance (
"Crossing Lines"
) to a backwoods feeling worthy of
Cat Power
(
"Missippiland"
). The most ambitious track on the record comes in the form of a cover of
Jane's Addiction
's classic
"Summertime Rolls"
-- and
Casillas
and company pull it off beautifully.
is an album that spotlights an amazing voice that would impress fans of
Joni Mitchell
, but the delicate instrumentation is equally as moving. ~ Charles Spano