Alina Simone's sophomore release, Placelessness, expands upon the minimalism of her debut EP, Prettier in the Dark, this time with a stronger sensitivity and the addition of sandpaper and a filing cabinet.

Spun up from an abandoned bar near the corner of sixth and Congress in Austin, Texas, Ukrainian-born Alina Simone's sophomore release, Placelessness, expands upon the minimalism of her debut EP, Prettier in the Dark, this time with a stronger sensitivity and the addition of sandpaper and a filing cabinet. Fans of PJ Harvey and Cat Power will find some familiar melodies and harmonies in this Steve Revitte (The Double, Black Dice, and Liars) production, which features drummer Gerhardt Fuchs, cellist Jenny Petrow, and guitarist Chris Barrey.

Simone seems to recognize the difficult nature of the music she presents, especially since she draws most of her subject matter from pawn shops, access roads, malls, and gas stations, the places to her where nothing and everything seems to happen; a fan of the contradiction, she claims a love for the gorgeous impossible possibilities that other people bring into her life. Yes it's raw, and yes it's messy, but despite that, it kinda works.

"Velvet Painting" sets the tone for the album with its breathlessness and thready, sometimes tinny, harmonies. More Harvey filters in through "Saw Edged Grass," as Fuchs, Barrey and Petrow pick up on Simone's indignant lyrics. Simone's strength lies in her potential more than the actual force of the lyrics. Too often her metaphors are mixed or disconnected, and ultimately it hurts the dimension of her songs. Perhaps the strongest of her works, "Swing," despite its simplicity carries the most drama of all her compositions, including lines like "I want you to want," which carry a sadness that overcomes any lame Cheap Trick jokes listeners may be imagining.

One aspect Placelessness has going for it is the relative equality of division between instruments and vocals. At no point does the album feel overcome by either one; in pieces like "Nightswimming," Simone's voice fits perfectly with Petrow's needling violin work, the two achieving a balance that Barrey cements with his acoustic guitar work. These songs have a traveled feel and the sense of an artist who is still growing and only getting better. Journeying is such an important theme to Simone's career and eventually she will be able to incorporate a worldview beyond heartbreak. "Black Water" offers glimmers of that with Simone attempting to tap into some kind of American image; motorbikes, housewives, spelling bees, and cruel lovers swirl about in the black waters here, but never quite coalesce, and maybe that's partially what its about, but for now, it's more confusion than enlightenment.

Dissonance aside, Simone, Revitte, Fuchs, Petrow, and Barrey have a talent for threadbare songs that mine some of the most mundane places for epiphanies. While they may not always be earth-shattering revelations, these songs are strong for the portraits they paint of growth and discovery. If anything, Placelessness, is a snapshot of the universality of human experience relayed by a non-native-born American who proves that it doesn't take a bang to unravel the universe. B+ | James Nokes