Lost Somewhere Between The Earth And My Home＜Magenta & Black Smoke Vinyl＞

Carla Bozulich's distorted folk tales for the desolate got their start on this debut album from her punky alterna-country performance outfit the Geraldine Fibbers, and what an introduction it is. Defying labels across the board, and turning old-style ancestral narratives into brutal and harrowing portraits of life on the edge of nowhere, the Fibbers wrap each of Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home's 12 songs into a ball of fury and toss it against the wall of tradition, just to see what happens. The results, wickedly conveyed through Bozulich's often androgynous and twangy tones, are among the most original, if not always successful, conceived in the cookie-cutter '90s. Chaotic noise breakdowns give way to melodic singalongs, songs twist and turn through several side paths before reaching their destination, and everything sounds as if total annihilation is imminent. Scary, thoughtful and highly inventive (plus a bit one-noted), Lost is the sound of country gone to hell. ~ Michael Gallucci