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*** Erin McKeown

DISTILLATION

(TVP/Signature Sounds)

Erin McKeown is the kind of artist critics love to rave about — a feisty feminist with solid instrumental chops, a skewed sense of humor, and an ability to write solid tunes that draw on a broad range of influences. On Distillation she plays acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, piano, and washboard and also throws in a few electronic samples. She bounces from the Broadway romance of Rodgers & Hart’s “You Mustn’t Kick It Around” (the only non-original on the album) to the seductive alterna-folk of “Queen of Quiet” and the acoustic funk of “Love in 2 Parts,” a deconstruction of modern romance that’s full of tasty bons mots tossed together in a word salad with a dressing of beat poetry. McKeown has a girlish alto, but she doesn’t indulge in any self-conscious coyness. The inventive arrangements, created with the aid of Dave Chalfant, Dave Hower, and Katryna Nields (of the Nields), give each tune its own personality without taking away from the set’s sparse, down-home quality. But it’s McKeown’s songwriting that makes the biggest impression; she packs every tune with the kind of witty wordplay and sharp instrumental touches that should have plenty of critics and some fans humming along from the first note.

— J. Poet<