Singer/songwriters may have a reputation for being more concerned with words
than music, but that's clearly not the case with Jonatha Brooke & the Story. As
well-crafted as her lyrics are, the best thing about "Plumb" isn't her wordplay
but her music. Brooke has an impressive ability to convey mood through melody
and harmony, and the best songs here make their emotional content clear long
before the lyrics sink in. Even better, Brooke shuffles styles and plays with
form as freely as Joni Mitchell, moving easily from the bluesy thump of "Nothing
Sacred" to the dreamy textures of "West Point," to the jazzy, Latin-inflected
"Made of Gold." It helps, of course, that she has first-rate help -- Bruce
Cockburn's cameo on "War" is particularly effective -- but as much as these
musicians might add to the material, they're just icing on the cake, as Brooke's
songs would stand up even without a band.
