Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Alice Schneider appears to have named her band after the dusty, creepy, late-night Texas where spilled whiskey and spilled blood commingle on the barroom floor, to judge from the ominous organ and spooky, cavernous guitar sounds that fill her minor-key songs. Abetted by Jim Sclavunos (who's played with Nick Cave), Peter Mavrogeorgis, and Robert Vickers (ex-Go-Betweens), Schneider gets by more on her impressive vocals than on lyrics, which occasionally tend toward the clichéd (such as the self-explanatory "Big Black Motorcycle"). The back of the jewel-box insert features a shot of Schneider, clad in a stunning little black dress, surrounded by sun-scorched weeds, the photo treated to look worn and faded and bleached to a sepia tone. Schneider's sassy vocals and the music's rural Texan (but not very country) twang correspond to that dress and those weeds, but that monochrome takes it toll. Too many songs are in minor keys and last longer than four minutes, while they'd be more effective at three minutes. But there's much potential here to be developed.

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