Front-couple Daniel Littleton and ElizabethMitchell have refined their slow-motion harmonies and guitar levitations withpiquant melodies and textures, making music-like the maturing relationshipstheir lyrics conjure-that's less about climax than about detailed foreplay.

Starry eyed and melancholic, this is an albumof exceptional treasure.

As HeartLike a River unfolds, the true joy comes in soaking up the instrumentaldepth, the overwhelmingly beautiful details that come from a piano chordsolemnly pressed and held like the player's fingers froze or the swells of theviolin so thin and seamlessly threaded in that they exert all the pressure ofan exhale.

Lovely music that sometimes does statelypiano-based things and sometimes goes all strummy and folky, but always retainstaste, originality and fine textures.

Autumnally pretty tunes that are also fullof quiet gravity...

Pushed the boundaries of minimallyorchestrated song structures, placing each note where it needs to be,refraining from embellishment.

The songs on Heart Like a River have a quiet strength, a passion that floats inbetween the lines.

There are musicians with longevity that areconstantly evolving, making better music, and contributing to the community ofartists with benefits for everyone. Ida issuch a band and this is such a record.