However authentic their fervour, 16 Horsepower often appear cripplingly in thrall to Nick Cave's old Southern gothic routine. David Eugene Edwards' second solo album is most effective when he stretches out a little, expanding his malign little songs into ghostly, creaking atmospheric pieces. The results are thematically consistent, if undeniably effective.

"Animalitos", a vast meditation on Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" that features a murder of crows on backing vocals, is the highlight, though "White Bird" (Roxy Music crossed with The Screaming Trees, weirdly) definitely runs it close. The chill-out album as rethought by Flannery O'Connor, perhaps.

3 stars (out of 5)