The game of "20 Questions" usually involves a query as to whether the target is a person, place or thing. If I were asked that while thinking about this Loftus record I wouldn't know how to answer. Yes, the disc itself is of the plastic- covered aluminum variety and it comes in a sharp custom slipcase (beautiful artwork, by the way) that is certainly an object, so the obvious choice would be to call it a "thing." But when I think of this album, I think of it as a place, the aural documentation of an internal state of vague desperation and anxious exploration, of nervous feelings tempered by the joy and relief that comes with discovery.

Loftus is most of the folks from Red Red Meat with some folks from Rex along with Bundy K. Brown, though the feel is closest to a low-key Meat. While continuing some of the loop and percussion experiments Red Red Meat experimented with on There's A Star Above The Manger Tonight, Loftus generally tones things down for more of a slow-burn, eerie, subtle approach. The sound is a typically eclectic amalgamation of inner- city space blues, the Grand Ole Opry drifting across the Tennessee Valley, electronic folk, and atmospheric film music.

These cinematic pieces definitely conjure pictures. To hear the gliding, distorted pedal steel of "Emma's Rubber Leg" is to picture a sweaty Harry Dean Stanton behind of the wheel of an El Camino, chain- smoking Pall Malls and staring intently at the pavement as it unwinds beyond the headlights. The early '70s Stones boogie of "Stolen From a Rifle Clean Brothel" is drinking music, pure and simple, something that plays over the juke as our hero gasses up at a roadhouse. And then the tense, shuffling drum loop of "King Carp in a Dan Ryan Ditch" is perfect for a desert showdown, where the anxiety builds and you can see close-ups of twitching eyes in the heat. Finally, the acoustic closer "Blind" is so sadly beautiful you can see it playing over a montage illustrating both love lost and the power that comes from solitude. Listen to Loftus alone and don't forget to close your eyes.

-Mark Richard-San