Verdict: History made incredibly sexy.
Anais Mitchell's gamine country-girl vocals could get on your wick after 20 songs, but when they are interspersed with the patter of bongos, tremble of double bass and smooth blend of baritone chorus they are addictive.
Sonically, the first half of the album is so moving the lyrics could be screeds of nonsense dribble and it would still be a treat. The fact that it is actually a history lesson - retelling the Greek myth of the poet Orpheus and his doomed quest to rescue his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld - is a bonus.
Mitchell, who wrote the songs on the album plays Eurydice, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon plays Orpheus, Ani DiFranco plays Persephone, and deep baritone Greg Brown is Hades.
The second half of the album traces the more traumatic points of the storyline and as it does, the backing orchestra is stripped back to silence and it becomes more of an audio version of musical theatre than a collection of songs you would play among friends. Hermes crackles and croaks while Persephone sleazes through the tracks as the sultry villain of the underworld. Mitchell's solo Flowers is strained, which makes it hard to decide whether she makes or breaks the album because when she is joined by the other guest singing sensation in the early tracks, it is brilliant.
The jazz-folk album, just like the story, is an emotional rollercoaster and, in places, you just want to fast-forward to the end.
