Chris Whitley: Hotel Vast Horizon

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * *)

Texas-based Whitley came to attention a decade ago with his extraordinary Living with the Law, a meltdown of alternative rock, blues and country. Kind of "alt-blunt" if you will, a lifestyle choice proven to exist when he turned up at Mangere with a joint in his boot and was refused entry. Within a few years his tastes changed and on Din of Ecstasy he had a heroin-Hendrix thing going on. It was thrilling and rowdy, but those who loved the guitar landscapes of the debut recoiled, probably never to return.

On this all-acoustic outing, however, he seems to have found his saviour and salvation (Saskia, at a guess from the lyrics and credits), and has gone back to basics. Recorded over a few winter days in Dresden, this is about as monochromatic and sparse as it gets: Whitley on guitars, banjo and vocals, an acoustic bassist, and drummer on a kit you could fit in a breadbin.

Lyrically there's a sense of isolation ("I come from far away, anywhere I am is home") but also of him finding his place ("you laid me down, taking me in sight and sound") which makes for disconcerting if sometimes slightly disengaged songs.

So, not in the league of Law (or Din if that gripped you), and a step away from the roots-pop/electronic ambitions of his recent Rocket House. But in its insidiousness and artful economy another confident step in Whitley's hop-scotch career path.

Label: Shock