HighBias.com: Michael Toland

Boston's Cordelia's Dad started out a decade ago as an electric folk power trio, playing traditional American folk tunes in a punked-up rock & roll style. After a couple of albums in that vein, leaderTim Eriksen decided to make Dad an all-acoustic affair, while continuing the electric explorations with original songs in a band called Io. Dad has since become a well-respected institution in the folk underground, while Io seemed to just fade away. Only in nomenclature, apparently, since Eriksen revives the songs and sound under the Cordelia's Dad banner for What It Is. Though the general sound recalls the band's earliest days, to say this is a return to former glories is a mistake. Eriksen isn't the same musician now he was then, and his tunes are a slightly odd combination of the early American folk music he's been trafficking in for years and guitar-based indie rock. Power chords and unconventional melodies carry his impressionistic poetry, and his thick-toned guitar and droning vocals (the main influence on which seems to be bagpipes) lead the way. Bassist/singer Cath Oss and drummer Peter Irvine offer dynamic support. Seriously rocking tracks like "Brother Judson," "Song of the Heads" and "Little Speckled Egg" are balanced by ballads like "Leave Your Light On," "Hammer" and "Eyelovemusic." There are a couple of folk songs present in "Dark and Rolling Eye," "Despair" and "Brethren Sing," the latter two of which come from the a cappella shape-note tradition. The band sounds equally comfortable with both approaches, setting the stage for future blendings of both sides of its personality. With What It Is, Cordelia's Dad makes a genuine breakthrough.