Will Oldham, keeper of an eerie, whispering back- country strain of folk, has managed to blaze trails backwards for most of the decade with Palace's various incarnations. His major accomplishment has been making music that is at once faithfully traditional and cutting edge. Similarly, Appendix Out's folk, often no more than lead vocalist Ali Roberts' fragile vocals over a gently picked acoustic, remains true to its source while turning over enough fences to keep things interesting, though it seems to favor Nick Drake to Oldham's Neil Young.

Roberts' vocals provide the ingenuity here, wavering wraithlike over the off- kilter procession, barely failing to cloak the inherent charms of the songs. This is an intensely quiet album. Tracks move in and out of consciousness, sometimes content as background, and at others, seizing attention at will. Songs like "Tangled Hair" and "Merchant City" follow such patterns, while "Foundling" and "Little Owl" take a more direct route to one's mind. Drawing from sources as distant as Belle and Sebastian, Oldham, Young and even the likes of Jerry Garcia, Appendix Out deliver subtle and plaintive beauty consistently throughout the album. Flutes and Kate Wright's ephemeral backing vocals provide the necessary flourishes to a simple yet brilliant work.

In the five- disc changer that sits in my apartment, Daylight Saving is followed by Dylan and the Band's Basement Tapes. And as I finish off the former's review, the latter's first notes play appropriately. Will Oldham has made a career of preserving the folk underworld championed by Dylan and Robbie Robertson, but Appendix Out attests to its universality.

-Neil Lieberman