halia Zedek sounds a lot like she looks in press photos: tired and pained, but blessed with strong eyes that show both the weight of experience and the determination to continue. While her struggles with identity and drug use during her years with NYC noise-fucks Live Skull and Boston blues-dirgers Come (as well as apocryphal acts like Uzi and Dangerous Birds) have made her easy to lionize, these qualities are more than audible to those oblivious to her past or visual presence.

Her second full-length solo effort, Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch Of Madness (named after a fortune—actually, two halves taped together—she found in a cookie and has understandably never forgotten), shares the sonic template of 2001’s Been Here And Gone. The woozy violin-flavored, lurch heard on the debut was at times masochistically sluggish, making it often difficult to take its entirety unless one was interested in reveling in romantic despair long after it had been comprehended and expressed. While her vocals will always signify weariness and hurt, her band is tighter and livelier than before, creating a less indulgent listening experience. The power, which is never bullying, makes it harder to dismiss the pain.

Her songs are similar enough that I can understand why folks like Robert Christgau would note that distinctions are not cost-effective. There are a few that have vocal hooks, some get awesomely chaotic and some are forlorn ballads. Her musings are murky enough that one, as he wrote about Come’s Eleven: Eleven, “can read into this alienation what they will—most likely some parallel to or complement of their own, which is most likely different”. The lack of an anthemic cover (previous highlights include “1923” and “Candy Says”) increases this aspect. While part of me wants to crack that the band could break into “Kashmir” at nearly any point of the album, one has to ignore the consistency and dramatic sweep this album achieves to make such a dismissive statement. What makes Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch Of Madness a career highlight for Zedek is how she avoids misery while continuing to confront emotional storminess. The ache is far too abstracted for one to find answers or even a summation of woe, but taken on an impressionist level there’s too much musical beauty for one to feel shortchanged.