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Lou Barlow is one of those guys who has been around for awhile and is in the somewhat unenviable position of having been one of those artists who is better known than heard, and who at the same time has probably influenced people who have never heard of him. He is perhaps best known as one of the founding members of Dinosaur Jr., which begat Sebadoh, which begat Sentridoh,

which ultimately begat Folk Implosion. The "new" appendage here is due not only to the departure of John Davis, but also to Barlow's stripped down progressive vision of where he wants his music to be.

THE NEW FOLK IMPLOSION is loaded with dark ballads which are long on back-to-basics and short on experimentation. The mood is struck immediately on "Fuse," the CD's opening cut. "Fuse, " inspired by the 911 terrorist attacks, opens with some vague, noise, an aggressive baseline, and a guitar riff reminiscent of Neil Young to set a cushion for Barlow's breathy vocals, which seem incongruous with his nightmarish lyrics. The track sets the tone for the rest of THE NEW FOLK IMPLOSION: dark, vague, and basic. The arrangements on THE NEW FOLK IMPLOSION are stripped down to basics: Guitar, bass, drums, and vocals do quite nicely here. That is not to call these tunes tame, however. You don't start a tune off with the line "what brand of skin do you occupy" ("Brand of Skin") and expect things to stay tranquil. These are vaguely disturbing tunes, and not easily accessible. Listening to tunes like "End of Henley" can be like walking into a dimly lit room in your basement and just knowing that it's full of spiders waiting to drop on you, even when you don't see them immediately. There's a lot roiling beneath the surface of the tunes on THE NEW FOLK IMPLOSION. This is a disc to be approached slowly, and repeatedly, to get the full effect.

Barlow continues to take chances with his music, daring his audience to follow him into places both new and familiar. While not everyone is going to be comfortable with this disc, THE NEW FOLK IMPLOSION will undoubtedly get Barlow and Company more of the notice that by now should have been his rightful due.