The second CD of DEEP NATURAL contains instrumental dub versions songs from the first CD.
Michelle Shocked seemingly never tires of reinventing the folkie/singer-songwriter aesthetic. She's already pioneered lo-fi anti-folk, and variously added a swinging horn section and alt-country godfathers Uncle Tupelo to her songs. So perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising to note that DEEP NATURAL finds her successfuly melding folk-rock and dub reggae (okay, maybe it still should). Not only does Shocked kick off the album with the aforementioned fusion on "What Can I Say," she adds an entire bonus disc of mostly instrumental dub tracks to the package (some of these even stretch the boundaries of dub itself, applying the approach to some anomalous idioms). In between, she tries her hand at everything from romantic Philly soul ("Forgive to Forget") to a tune that sounds like a Harlem gospel choir covering Santana's "Evil Ways" ("Good News"). Clearly, Shocked is not one to be pinned down.
What the critics say...
Uncut (11/02, p.126) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Raucous Texas blues work-outs sit alongside acoustic folk songs, country weepies and stabs of New Orleans funk. When it works it's glorious..."
