How about a Welsh album with no Welsh vocals? Just Welsh titles. And by the way, "Plant" is children in Welsh. This is kind of explains the album cover, I think. And bonus: I'm up to thirteen Welsh words in my vocabulary, though the syntax still kills me. Also, no verbs.

Peiriant Plant (self-released)

Rose and Dan Linn-Pearl play violin and electric guitar, and they augment their compositions with all sorts of electronic (and otherwise) elements. A song might be stark and lonely until a shower races through. Or it might be a gentle ramble through an idea or five. There's no telling.

Such randomness might be aggravating, but these pieces are so immediately ingratiating that the warm rush of new ideas invigorates. Or, not to be an SAT word ass, every song opens its arms to the listener.

Am I doing a good job describing this? No. Because the music has to be experienced. The violin, of course, does bring to mind Dirty Three, but the rest of the sound is more. These aren't stark pioneers staring at the prairie. These are people puzzling about the modern world.

And, perhaps, trying to figure out how kids fit into the picture. They do, of course, but the journey to wrap your head around that is different for everyone. Now that my oldest is in Portland getting tear gassed and shot by rubber bullets (that supposedly have never been fired or even exist), having children is an entirely different ordeal. But one that is far more fulfilling than however many years it removes from my life. I'm not sure Peiriant is quite there (or if that's even the direction of the exploration), but listening to these thoughts has stimulated many of my own. Fabulous and wonderful.

Jon Worley