A nice album, this, the very model of a well-crafted country pop record in the general area of Mary Chapin Carpenter, with several nods in a slightly folkier direction. "My Impatient Heart", for example, had me double checking that it wasn't actually an Eleanor McEvoy song. Ten songs, then, that deal with emotional complexities - entangled love lives, dreams of escape from the muddied burdens of real life - in simple, clear imagery. There is nothing complex or obtuse to have you scratching your head, but short, two-line images that stick in the mind and give you something to daydream over.
Jane's singing is lovely, unforced and with a natural purity. It's not the strongest of voices, though, and this possibly dictates the low key production: lots of lovely detail in there, especially from the pedal steel, but nothing is forced to the front so that her singing can remain paramount. Everything is put to the service of the song's mood, and it's all the better for that. These songs are eminently coverable - as some of her songs have been covered in the past - and more than once I can hear the big production number that could make a country chart hit out of "Waiting for Elena", for example. I like her simple, straightforward, style, however, and the deceptive simplicity of "Dream and Drive", where acoustic guitar, pedal steel and bass combine to echo the simple clarity of the lyrical idea, is the epitome of why this record is an all-round success.
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