Blog: PopMatters

A comfort record, sincere in intention and almost flawless in execution. James Elkington has a voice like Leonard Cohen, a morose, ramshackle, and whiskey-stained voice that whispers to you through a host of folk-themed instrumentation, and Janet Bean is the complement to his downtrodden croon. The duo comprises the core of the Horse's Ha, a Chicago chamber group whose debut record, Of the Cathmawr Yards, offers a compelling alternative to the self-absorbed guy/girl folk duo, which is all but ubiquitous on the coffeehouse circuit. Elkington's vocals...