For an interesting, ear challenging piece, look no further than the first song on the album which features a classic jazz vocal over funky backing that includes a fiddle accompaniment. The second song, and title track, features dual mandolins among the instruments backing the folksy vocals. "Fourteen Days" is like a "One Week" where instead of rapping in the middle about x-files and sushi, the protagonist actually expresses feelings about the other person in the breakup.

The song "Sativa," about a grower of everyone's favorite non-tobacco smokable product, ends with a trumpet fanfare which puts the listener (or at least this listener) in mind of a conquistador entering triumphantly into an arena to do battle with the bull. The album closes with acoustic guitars, a fiddle, and an accordion as Laura does a beautiful version of the traditional song "Shenandoah."

In between the first few songs and the last song is a mix and match of musical styles that could almost be called quirky, except that the way she combines the various elements seems not only natural, it seems right. The vocals change just about as effortlessly, ranging from soft and lush to angry to sardonic and hitting just about every emotion in between. The way her voice carries "Shenandoah" at the end is simply entrancing.

Hopefully the listener won't get caught up so much in the music that they miss the edge her lyrics have to them. There are a couple of isolated incidents where I feel she gets carried away with her cleverness lyricwise (and of course that same sentiment applies to 99 percent of my writing) but for the most part I find her to be a gifted and intriguing lyricist. In "Fourteen Days," she speaks of driving by her ex's house in her new Porsche but at the end closes with "to tell the truth I prefer Miatas."

She continues her tongue-in-cheek style in her song about America's favorite urban rain forest, "Seattle," in which she writes "My world is not a store that is open all day. I don't want to live in Nike Town." Finally, in the funkybluesy "I Am Going to Miss You," she rips off the brilliant line: "Ask me if I'll miss you and I'll say does Rose Kennedy own a black dress."

Her lyrics at times border on political, but chalk it up to a singer/songwriter with a conscience that writes about what she feels and sees. Musically, this album defies classification except that if you like good music and your ears aren't afraid to experience new things, this is for you. It is a funk folk explosion that definitely dropped a bomb on my ears. When it comes down to it, this ain't Mike or Courtney. To paraphrase Amy Grant, "This is a Love of another kind."