If I Should Fall to the Field

This is the second solo CD from overachieving Neurosis guitarist/vocalist Steve VonTill. His 2000 solo debut, As the Crow Flies, was a minimal and unexpectedly quiet collection of home recordings, most of which were made while his housemates were asleep. That album's stark, nocturnal vibe carries over here, but this time the instrumentation is more fleshed out, with banjo, fiddle, and pedal steel guitar alternately accompanying VonTill's acoustic guitar picking and parched, half-whispered vocals (a few of the songs even have drums). VonTill's lyrics — with their constant references to rivers, grain, blood, stones, and barren fields — depict him as a rugged, yet sensitive nature-hound, and the music's nods to old country, Dust-Bowl Americana, and Irish folk traditions further highlight the rustic mood he's out to establish. Tellingly, there's a cover of Neil Young's depressing ballad "Running Dry," and it fits right in alongside the originals. VonTill's delivery gets a little too earnest for comfort at times, but this album's highlights ("In the Field," "This River") have a quiet power that mirrors Neurosis' more traditionally "heavy" moments.