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THE GOOD LIFE "Help Wanted Nights" Saddle Creek ****

This is my first Good Life experience, having missed the three previous expressions of intent. On this evidence there's some catching-up to do. This four-piece from Omaha could not be described as sharp or well-drilled. The mood of the music is loose-fitting, and their playing threatens to fall apart at any stage. But it doesn't, and gradually we are drawn into the emotionally raw stories of the Sundowner, the fictional bar in which the album is set. There is an east-coast quirkiness and a midwest intensity a la Wilco at times. Indeed, the best track, You Don't Feel Like Home to Me, has a real sense of Wilco's fractured melody and mindset, though it must be said that The Good Life could never be accused of grand melody larceny - they're much too set in their odd ways for that. www.thegoodlifemusic.com JOE BREEN

Download tracks: On the Picket Fence, You Don't Feel Like Home to Me, So Let Go