*** Edith Frost

CALLING OVER TIME

(Drag City)

Former Texan Edith Frost does Patsy Cline one better on her intensely plaintive full-length debut. She doesn't just fill a river with tears, she tackles an entire ocean in a melancholy little number called "Wash of Water." But for all the disc's stark overtones, it's hard not to notice how Frost revels in dark moods. Depression can be liberating when it's a means to happier ends -- just ask Nick Cave -- and you get the sense that Frost wouldn't feel particularly comfortable if things were going her way. "I don't want to be too happy, just enough to tide me over," she sings on the relatively upbeat "Too Happy," her robust voice rubbing up against the piano and pedal-steel accompaniment of Gastr del Sol's David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Elsewhere, stripped down, acoustic guitar-based arrangements mirror Frost's haunting introspection, offering just enough Southern twang to tide roots enthusiasts over without settling into country clichés.

-- Matt Ashare

(Edith Frost opens for Simon Joyner, John Davis, and the Mountain Goats upstairs at the Middle East this Wednesday, June 18. Call 864-EAST.)