*** Cowboy Junkies

MILES FROM OUR HOME

(Geffen)

This is another smart, deceptively mellow collection of songs from Cowboy Junkies about abstract loss, loneliness in the abstract, and, newly brought to the fore, less abstract feelings about death and anger at God. Margot Timmons still uses her dust-dry whisper now and then, but it's been a long time since a feckless rustling sound has been this band's trademark. Now the arrangements are, if not quite aggressive, at least full-bodied, with added keyboards and layered guitars and Margot occasionally full-throated but still sounding fey, in the original sense of the word.

Cowboy Junkies' great strength remains brother Michael's thoughtful lyrics -- spare, direct, and with an unforced poetic quality that prevents the band's mellow depressive stance from becoming precious. A tincture of psychedelia threads through a few songs here, most notably on "New Dawn Coming," a slowly sensuous melody over a "Ticket To Ride" backbeat, and on "Blue Guitar" (a collaboration with the late Townes Van Zandt), which leisurely wraps itself around a raga-like drone. But overall it's the same neo-folk/rock we've all come to know and, when the mood strikes, happily wallow in.

-- Richard C. Walls