I received my copy earlier this week. The album itself is a mixed bag; some of it I liked, some of it I strongly disliked. The Volares seem to be one of those bands that are long on talent and short on discipline -- several of the tracks would have been really great songs if they had only been finished, but instead they sort of hang there like promising sketches. (A couple of songs, particularly "Teepee by the River" and "Aspen", finally provided me with the motivation to figure out how to get my CD player software to automatically skip annoying tracks.) Of course, that's just my opinion; your mileage may vary.

That being said, "Asleep in Egypt" is a instant favorite for me. No sooner had I listened to it the first time than I loaded up my MP3 encoder so I could drop a convenient copy on my desktop. It, too, has that same sketchy feel as most of the rest of the songs on the album, but between Julianne's voice and some good solid guitar work, it manages to come off quite well. I thought it was interesting to listen to Julianne singing a song she hadn't written and which was clearly originally intended for someone singing in a lower register. As a result, she sounds kind of husky and somber, and the song shows off an aspect of her talent that doesn't usually show.

The psychedelic cover art is cool, too. The bottom line is that I'd have gladly paid my $18 for "Asleep in Egypt" alone. At most, one or two of the non-Julianne tracks are worth listening to.

Eric O'Dell