Nina Nastasia and Jim White - You Follow Me

You Follow Me sees acclaimed singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia team up with Dirty Three drummer and occasional cohort Jim White. After a successful, low-key tour together, the pair entered the studio with perennial producer Steve Albini to record the results. The title is descriptive of the writing process taken, but who is following whom seems to change with, and sometimes within, each song. Our Discussion sees Nastasia hold forte with a joyful folk paean, leaving White to patter and roll in the background using his own instinctive style. On Odd Said The Doe, it's White's turn to take the driving seat, building up a torrent of snare drum and cymbals, crashing around our heroine. Don't worry though, this is no muso-battleground, nor a channelling of pent-up experimentalism between albums proper. At its heart this is a focused collection of songs dealing in love, pursuit and death, which, as we all know, is timeless. [Darren Carle]