I think that Danielle Howle could play a four- hour show, stop for an omelette and coffee, and then play for a week. And I'm positive that she would have done that when I saw her a couple months ago, but I think DC has a law against taking omelettes in a public place. She's that girl from third grade who would have a Pixie Stik at lunch and then run around cheering "America the Beautiful" to the tune of "Camptown Races" during the kick-ball game. These are good things.

Howle won me over at the start with her early tour de force, "Big Puffy Girl Handwriting," which she played on her live album and Simple Machines' Working Holiday live compilation. Two albums later, she hasn't been able to capture the greatness of the song in the studio. In fact, nothing she's done has really worked as a whole. Sure, the songs are great, but the spirit just isn't there. Now it is.

Stepping away from the Tantrums, her backing ensemble the last two times around, Howle goes solo acoustic on most of this record. Dan Littleton and Liz Mitchell from Ida back her on a few of the tracks, along with Jenny Toomey of the late, great Tsunami. The absence of drums pushes Howle's guitar to the front as both melody and rhythm maker-- she pulls it off with ease in songs like "Grandpa" and "Still in Love With You." Her unique lyrical phrasing also adds texture to the mix.

On her last two records, it seemed like Howle just wanted to put her songs out there and didn't think twice about what sort of beast she was creating. But with Catalog, Howle has finally made an album that asks to be listened repeatedly. It's consistently beautiful and reliably touching. It's clearly crafted with love and care; paying serious attention to style and flow while still laying down poignant lyrics that would never dream of using the words "self" and "conscience" in the same sentence. Or maybe she just cut down on her sugar intake.

-Chip Chanko