Austin's Knife in the Water combine the drifting moodiness of contemporary psychedelia-influenced pop and the bittersweet harmony of timeless country music. Imagine Spiritualized with a steel guitar -- a comparison of which I was rather proud, until I discovered I wasn't the first person to make it -- and you'll be scratching the surface.

Song titles like "Watch Your Back" and "Young Blood in the River" hint that Red River has thematic links to southern gothic murder ballads. Mostly, however, its foundations are built upon the broad plains of Americana rock. Every song occupies wide-open spaces, inviting you to sprawl alongside the narrative, passively absorbing the music as it seeps into your pores. It's a drowsy, dusty, warm and seemingly aimless procession, bumped along by the keening of Bill McCullough's pedal steel guitar. Laura Krause's organ interjects essential structure and formality when the music threatens to become too slack.

One of Knife in the Water's most obvious strengths is the voice of frontman Aaron Blount. It's deep, confident and assured, with a distant hint of melancholy; he's strong and sardonic when singing of betrayal, and subtly vulnerable when relating loss. He even gets to trot out his rock chops on the comparatively breakneck-paced "Young Blood in the Water". On more evocative tunes, like "Broad Daylight", he teams with the ethereal Krause, their vocals mingling harmoniously with the pedal steel as they let loose the song's stirring refrain. On "Watch Your Back", they'll fill your mind's eye with images of stark western beauty -- exquisite sonic line drawings made more personal by their dependence upon your imagination.

The best thing about Red River is that it thrives on your own emptiness. Take Red River and a CD player into an otherwise empty room. Play the disc. Stretch out on the floor and let the music flood the room until you're swimming in it. You won't feel empty any more. The less you have, the more it gives you.