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Liars and Prayers is an album of slow-burning intensity. Most of the songs roll along at a similar mid-tempo pace, some for up to six or seven minutes, yet each one has distinct qualities that merit the investment. Most prominently, as the credits reveal, Zedek has a band, not just her guitar, viola/trumpet and drums lineup of her live shows. Piano and bass fire up the songs, inching them closer towards a conventional hard rock sound, which in turn gets mangled when trumpet blares or string scrapes flesh out the arrangements. And that voice! The former Come frontwoman sounds like a more gravelly version of Patti Smith on a few of these songs, and her lyrical work, laced with subtle political commentary, results in some fascinating takes on everyday relations. By the time the band does pick up the pace on closer “Begin to Exhume,” it’s an added bonus.

Standout Tracks: “We Don’t Go,” “Wind” MIKE SHANLEY

[Photo Credit: Lana Kaplan]