Brenda Kahn's fifth album, but the first released on her own Rocket 99 label, Hunger is an all acoustic and spoken word record, with only Ernie Adzentoivich's upright bass and Kahn's guitar as instrumentation, a reflection of their live show. The album was, not coincidentally, recorded in three days, mostly live, and the three spoken word pieces were written on the beach in Playa del Carmen, Mexico a week before the recordings, adding a spontaneous, off-the-cuff energy to the record. Kahn announces with a cacophonous wall of acoustic sound midway through the first song, Messiah, that her music is not whimsical, thin or pious folk. In fact, it would be a mistake to thoughtlessly force Hunger (or Kahn's music, in general) into the misused "folk" label. She has much more in common with pop and rock song structures, and her melodies are muscular. There is also a decidedly experimental side to Kahn, and the album makes use of avant-garde, country, and even jazzy textures (especially Adzentoivich's excellent bass playing). The songwriting is variable, but mostly strong. Queen of Distance is thoughtful, and as pretty as its title implies. With a mess of synthesizers, rigid beats, and some icy, choked vocals, Side Step the Bullet could have been a new wave track, perhaps something off an early Elvis Costello record. Instead it is a languid, rootsy song that takes off during the chorus. Kahn's achy vocals are assured, sometimes drawing to mind Sheryl Crow. Hunger, too, could easily slide into the roots rock category, but it mostly transcends labels. Instead, it lopes effortlessly from beginning to end. ~ Stanton Swihart, Rovi

1		Mexico One
2		Messiah
3		Light
4		Hunger
5		Queen of Distance
6		Mexico Two
7		So What If I Saw Jesus
8		Sidestep the Bullet
9		Dictaphone
10		Christopher Says
11		Mexico Three

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