Over The Rhine – Drunkard’s Prayer

On some levels, it makes perfect sense that Over The Rhine serves, occasionally, as honorary members of Cowboy Junkies. Like their Canadian peers, the husband-and-wife team of Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist often frames their songs in sparse, candlelit arrangements that emit an after-midnight glow.

But the differences between the two acts are striking as well. Whereas the Junkies’ touchstones run toward an eclectic mix that includes Hank Williams, Lou Reed and Crazy Horse, Over The Rhine’s influences are more classic in nature, and lean as much toward chamber pop as roots music.

This latest release from the Ohio duo ranks among their best. Employing bare-bones instrumentation — often just piano, upright bass and strummed acoustic guitar — Detweiler, Bergquist and a few close friends create a slow-burn ambience wherein enchanting melodies and languid tempos gradually take hold.

High points include “Little Did I Know”, a torch song with a cool jazz vibe and a smoky, sax-fueled coda; the cabaret-tinged, carnivalesque “Hush Now (Stella’s Tarantella)”; and the title track, a stately piano ballad enriched by David Henry’s tearful cello.

A hymnlike atmosphere hovers over the album; themes of affirmation in the face of travail add to the effect. Bergquist’s voice — subtly emotive, with just a hint of earthy midwestern drawl — is the perfect instrument with which to deliver such ruminations.