Dusk in Cold Parlors

Norfolk and Western have reached maturity with their fourth proper album "Dusk in Cold Parlours." Band leader Adam Selzer's unaffected, soft tenor may recall a reedy Dean Wareham (Luna), or Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo). His vocals are half spoken, half sung over dazzling acoustic arrangements enhanced with piano, pedal steel, optigan, orchestra bells, and tasteful percussion provided by part-time Decemberists drummer extraordinaire, Rachel Blumberg. In the past Selzer's idiosyncratic lyrics have been largely overshadowed by the band's distinctly compelling arrangements. Here, his stream-of-conscious sensibility is more linear, if not narrative, and will be printed (for the first time) in the liner notes.