So when her new solo record, The Moviegoer, came out, I knew I had to get me some. These days, of course, I have connections: I e-mailed C-Ville's publisher and requested a copy of the disc. (He's got an inside track-- he's married to her.)

The disc came and I listened to it. I thought it was pretty good. Not my favorite, but that's always the case with a first listen. I think I liked the live Lilith Fair version of "Loneliness..." better than Moviegoer's campy studio bossa nova. But, like most music, repeated applications can result in exponentially greater yields and sure enough, by the third or fourth turn on the stereo, I was hooked-- and good.

I don't know what it is that I dig so much about this formerly baudy blues singing frontwoman for rock band Paris Match now converted into a happening post-Pixies wisened little girl alt/rock singer. She opens her mouth and out rolls... Sweet Virginia. Vineyards and rolling two lane blacktop. Horse farms and rich folks and family and hedges and front porches-- and not in a country-western kind of way-- in a subtle, digestable alternative pop kind of way. For me it's like going home-- and I'm not even originally from here.

There is a recurring family presence in her tunes. She's kind of a family troubador-- though she's often illuminating some strangely beautiful familial foible from her surreal little girl's perspective. As she describes mother in the yard preparing fruit in her bathing suit in "Judy G," the music surrounding the moment suggests a grainy black and white photo of the scene. Someone gets their first disturbing gun in "Shoot the Elephant." There are alot of sequences of empowerment and helplessness, classic family memories and rights of passage.

Check out "Mother Was a Moviestar." (As far as I know, her mother was not actually in movies-- but the metaphor is tasty.) A description of a lavish childhood is cut short when "... a camera turns/ and you're forgotten..."-- In six words and so many notes she conjures a hilarious image of narcicistic preoccupation. This is, to me, truly delicious whimsical satire. Set against the family portrait painted in the tune, it's a poignant social critique.

All of this couched amidst lovingly sparse lunar production. The Moviegoer scores "two thumbs up!"

--Cripsy Duck .................................................................................................................... up