The latest CD releases reviewed

THE SADIES
New Seasons Yep Roc ****

Don't be fooled by the country guitar-pickin' opener on the Toronto combo's fifth studio album. This is a horse of a different colour, galloping through a multihued mix of cosmic country, electric bluegrass and psychedelia. Led by brothers Dallas and Travis Good, The Sadies conjure up an alternative universe of the south, where ghost riders glide by on headless horses, and runaway freight trains head straight to hell. The brothers mine the rich seams of traditional country music, then filter it through some dirty guitar effects and a dense undergrowth of rhythm, undercut with their cracked- earth vocal harmonies. Swirling around in the musical dust are echoes of Gun Club, The BoDeans, Buffalo Tom and Lift to Experience, but the old country bedrock stays solid through such songs as What's Left Behind, Yours to Discover, Anna Leigh and The Land Between. www.thesadies.net   KEVIN COURTNEY

Download tracks: The First Inquisition (Pt IV), What's Left Behind, Anna Leigh

THE VALERIE PROJECT
The Valerie Project Twisted Nerve ****

A cult Czech new-wave flick about priests, vampires and a 13-year-old girl inspired some freak-folk artists, led by Greg Weeks from Espers, to write their own score for the flick.

It's not as if Jarmoli Jires's 1970 film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders needed a new score - Lubos Fiser's original brooding, enchanting score remains a much-admired artefact. Weeks and his players began their task by amplifying the psychedelic intensity of Fiser's sound, but it's only when the collective's haul of harps, cellos, bells, whistles, guitars and disembodied voices take flight that this album suddenly makes sense.

If psych-folk is often all folk and no psych, the reverse is true here. Because the tracks are not meant to emphasise what you see on the screen, Weeks and comrades roam in any and every direction to convey an atmosphere befitting the film. Best of all, The Valerie Project works without the pictures. www. myspace.com/ thevalerieproject JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Burned at the Stake, The Feast

COLM Ó SNODAIGH
Giving Kila Records ***

Colm Ó Snodaigh has broken free of the Kíla corral, at least temporarily. His solo recording is surprisingly languid, unforced and quietly confident. He's got a tantalisingly conspiratorial voice, one that tempts the listener ever closer, all the better to dissect his intimate musings. Oddly, the opener, Adieu, is by far the weakest song in the collection, a wirey, uncertain wanderer. Leochaileach Arís/Fragile Again is another beast entirely: with backing vocals from Nina Hynes and Fiachna Ó Braonáin's electric guitar, it could just as easily sit on a Twin Peaks soundtrack, with its Lynchian foreboding hanging heavy in the air. With a significant Buckley presence (Hugh and Richie), and magnificent double bass from Dave Fleming, particularly on the Gitane-infused Sweet Child, Ó Snodaigh gambols in jazz pastures - and he's loving it. www.kila.ie SIOBHÁN LONG

Download tracks: Leochaileach Arís, Sweet Child