“I come to you open, organs on my sleeve,” she trembles. “Won’t you help me now/Help me find my peace?” ‘She’ is Erika Wennerstrom, the one-part PJ Harvey, one-part Robert Plant, all-parts awe-inspiring frontwoman of Ohio’s Heartless Bastards. On The Mountain, the follow-up to their brilliant 2006 sophomore record All This Time, we find the Bastards trudging from desert to disaster and back again. On display here is just how much they’ve expanded their sound since then, from the downbeat southern blues of Had To Go, to the pounding wallop of Early In The Morning. “I don’t wanna stand still,” Wennerstrom croons appropriately on Could Be So Happy. The stand out is the album’s title track, whose thunderous range is truly worthy of its name. “When you see the smoke, there’s fire,” she roars on the title track. Follow the smoke. It will lead you here.

Published in Volume 64, Number 1 of The Uniter (September 3, 2009)