Singer-songwriter Nathan Amundson's sophomore release was recorded in the cathedral/studio setting of the Sacred Heart Music Center in Duluth, MN. Taking advantage of the cathedral's natural acoustics, engineer Alan Sparhawk (of Low renown) brilliantly complements Amundson's dark, guitar-driven folk and open, honest voice with backing from Mimi Parker (Low) and NY-based chamber poppers Flare.

The intimacy and wintry isolation of this setting comes on strong, not only with a deep, sonorous reverb, but also with the ambient sounds of cars passing, chairs creaking and feet moving across the cool tile floor. At times ethereal, somber, even haunted, Debridement immediately drives home a sense of embattled self-sufficiency in an ominous way. Things ain't so rosy, you know, when "there's an evil in the room" and that evil comes bouncing back to you from the high, vaulted ceilings. In fact, it's as if Rivulets instinctively picks up on the natural echo by matching it with his own echo-effect. Phrases such as "please, stop breakin' down", "there's nothing I can do", and "you have given more than your fair share" are insistently repeated, lending them an air of uncontested truth.

Or maybe it just seems that way. Songs about drug abuse and suicide ("Cutter"), the need for other people ("Will You Be There", with its pained lyrics "When the bombs rain down on all you've down, will you be there?") and finding beauty in the most unlikely of places (The Sunsets Can Be Beautiful [Even In Chicago]") surely aren't about steadfast conviction and unwavering belief. "Steamed Glass", a swaying, almost breezy track, encapsulates the album by exposing this tension between a desperate, tether's-end-need to communicate and a resistance to intimacy. The closing track, "Get Out Alive", is a good ending for this collection, given its spooked, buried vocal track and frenetic, self-destructive ambient backing.

Heavy stuff! But the music itself, if you forget the icy meanings behind it, is really a wondrous, melancholic mix of soar-away melodies and inventive, instrumental backings.