The same label that brought us A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Notenuf now introduces us to Sara O' Shura, a/k/a The Battle of Land and Sea. The Portland-based singer-songwriter's eponymous album is a beautifully intimate, homespun affair, one that conjures Cat Power at her most hushed, and yet even more airy and forlorn. A gorgeous debut.

Damn, if this isn't a record that just quietly creeps up on you and takes your brain hostage! At this point, Portland, OR duo the Battle of Land and Sea are probably the sole reason for me holding on to this neo-folk hangover. Seriously, in a day when just about anyone and everyone who knows their way around a G, C and D chord is putting out a CD, comes this too short of an album that reminds me of how powerful and lingering a good, simple song can be, as long as it's sung with a little honest emotion and a lot of restraint. Albums don't get much sparser than this, just the voice and six-string strums of Sara O'Shura and some icy guitar work from Joshua Canny. Songs like "Saltwater Queen" and "Lady" call to mind Mazzy Star unplugged, only here the generous dose of reverb on the mix isn't about druggy atmosphere but rather daydream melancholy. Surprisingly affecting is their cover of "Harden My Heart" by early-'80s chart toppers Quarterflash, in which O'Shura changes the FM radio melodrama of the original into an intimate confessional and in turn, one-ups Cat Power's sultry take on the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction." [GH] (January 25, 2008)