The cover image that accompanies "The Untied States of Elephant Micah" is a nighttime interstate scene snapped while speeding through a blizzard. The superimposed asterisks represent an actual archway (made of blue steel in real life) that welcomes Hoosier travelers of I-70 to Ohio. It's the tongue-in-cheek story of bored dreamers' pilgrimages from border city Richmond, Indiana to nearby Dayton. And they're met at the state line by the beer-guzzling ghost of Bob Pollard. Like the album's double incidence of tacky Casio beats, this reverence for the low fidelity heroism of the '90s Midwest draws sincerity, even sensitivity, out of sarcasm. "The Untied States of Elephant Micah" takes its rightful place alongside the folk-psychedelia of 2003's "Your Dreams Are Feeding Back" in the ever-unfolding folk mystery that is Elephant Micah. For fans of Lou Barlow, Mark Kozelek, Neil Young, Hayden, and anything else on BlueSanct.