Andy LeMaster may have ties to the Saddle Creek scene-he's moonlighted in Bright Eyes, and NOI members Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor, AKA Azure Ray, now live in Omaha. But he's actually Athens-based, and his music has a distinctive Southern sensibility. Granted, the sequenced percussion, shuddery synths and dark vocals on tracks like "Wait in Line" and "Profile" are more Depeche than Allmans. But in other places, such as "Fall Back Open" (backing vocals courtesy Conor Oberst), LeMaster paints a mesmerizing pastoral scene, like a slow-motion tracking shot through bright expanses of cotton, across kudzu-clotted hills and down to the edge of the idyllic summer pond of one's half-remembered youth. Michael Stipe's guest spot here is equal parts endorsement and passing of the Southern torch.

"Andy LeMaster may have ties to the Saddle Creek scene-he's moonlighted in Bright Eyes, and NOI members Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor, AKA Azure Ray, now live in Omaha. But he's actually Athens-based, and his music has a distinctive Southern sensibility. Granted, the sequenced percussion, shuddery synths and dark vocals on tracks like ""Wait in Line"" and ""Profile"" are more Depeche than Allmans. But in other places, such as ""Fall Back Open"" (backing vocals courtesy Conor Oberst), LeMaster paints a mesmerizing pastoral scene, like a slow-motion tracking shot through bright expanses of cotton, across kudzu-clotted hills and down to the edge of the idyllic summer pond of one's half-remembered youth. Michael Stipe's guest spot here is equal parts endorsement and passing of the Southern torch.

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