Lou Black has a great voice, and it's definitely the first thing you'll notice about City of No Winters. In "Searching for a Land of Love"'s opening notes, he's a mix of Tom Waits and Springsteen, and the combination sounds as good as you'd hope. The second thing you'll notice is that Black means every word he sings; when he says, "the sand perpetually blows in my eyes", there's no question that in his mind, he's crawling through the desert in search of the titular Land of Love. As the short song proceeds, a smooth piano tinkles in and out, lightly intertwined with his gravelly vocals. And is that a hint of an accent?

Indeed, Black is actually Peru-born Luis Eduardo Schwarz. That side of his heritage comes through clearly in the radiant, Latin-tinged "Oh Amor", which sets the standard for the rest of the disc. Black doesn't disappoint, either; the album only gets more infectious with each passing tune.

Because Black's voice is clearly the main draw, City of No Winters runs the risk of becoming repetitive -- a series of musical set pieces designed to backdrop those marvelous vocals. Fortunately, Black doesn't skimp on variety, combining intoxicating love songs with cleverly disguised political diatribes. At his best, he sings about both subjects at once: on the title track, his lyrical reference to "the love that left me all too soon" is more a comment on his dissatisfaction with the current political situation in South Africa than a lament for a failed relationship. While it only takes a quick spin to appreciate the beauty of Black's music on a basic level, inquisitive listeners will delight in the subtext.

Black's "Ode to Backbay" takes potshots at the run-down, corrupt town from which its narrator hails. He questions whether he'll ever leave, knowing that if he does, he'll never go back. All the while, he sings with a smile that's almost a rictus grin; sunny, but suffused with hatred for his hometown, it's paired with City's most appealing melody. The pianos romp, and Black rumbles through the song without looking back.