Lee Harvey Osmond - A Quiet Evil (Latent Recordings) For this first release on Latent Recordings, Canadians Lee Harvey Osmond pursue an eclectic relaxed groove which invokes in equal measure the bayou and the desert, and in doing so captures a strong essence of the dark heart that beats within some of North America’s rural extremes. Given the presence of all four Cowboy Junkies it’s unsurprising that the mood is poised and restrained and never remotely threatens to break its stride; but the record is led from the front by former Junkhouse man Tom Wilson, which ensures it has an intensity and edginess which raises it above mere ambient Americana. As such it draws from the finest of influences: Calexico, on “The Love of One”, where pedal steel and harmonica add an eerie atmosphere over a steady but determined drum beat and husky whispered vocals; J.J. Cale on the swampy but lightly jazzy “Cuckoos Nest” and Queen Bee”; and Gram Parsons, with Margo Timms as Emmylou on the gentle but impassioned ballad “I’m Going to Stay That Way”. Hints of innovative contemporary songwriters (from Jim White to Rodney Crowell) crop up everywhere on an album which reaches a fitting finale with Lou Reed’s “I Can’t Stand It”. We can probably agree that however mellow the mood and seemingly anodyne the lyric, Reed was incapable of writing a song which didn’t unsettle in some way, and it’s in their convincing appropriation of this late-Velvets classic that LHO ultimately establish the manifesto set out in the title itself. “A Quiet Evil” is superbly crafted and delivered, and full of great songs; but it is their unusual talent for at once engaging and discomforting the listener that makes this one of the year’s first real surprises. www.myspace.com/lhosmond Neil B. LeE HARVeY OsMOND - QUEEN BEE Next