Play

Set up to run like a stage play (hence the title and concept), the family Nields craft an ethereal blend of folk and highbrow lyrics in this folksy song cycle. The songs themselves deal with relationships unfulfilled and pulls in figures from Georgia O'Keefe to Woody Guthrie into the playlet. The Nields' singing is warm and centered around Nerissa and Katryna with the former contributing most of the original material on here. There's a sense of literary high-mindedness at work throughout this album that lifts the material to another level, and despite the sing-songiness of several of the songs aboard ("Snowman," "Easy People," "Last Kisses," "Friday at the Circle K," "Jennifer Falling Down"), there are some deliciously dark moments in the lyrics that makes this a cut above your usual folkie rant album.