Laura Veirs is the librarian of the alt-country set. Rather than trying to inhabit her characters, she observes them from a distance, taking notes and filing them away in her mind before narrating their stories for us. Like Suzanne Vega, she sings in a deliberately detached, inexpressive tone - whoever said women in art need to be wracked with emotion? Veirs presents the facts as clearly and politely as possible, less a bewitching raconteur than an impartial witness in inquiries into murders, brawls and other such public disorder. While rarely scaling great heights, Veirs' self-effacing style avoids ever losing momentum on this, a re-release of her 2001 debut, and her vignettes of outlaws and criminals sound hauntingly stark and fresh thanks to undulating melodies and exquisite chord progressions.