Christine Tobin has an affinity with poets. The New York-based Irish singer and composer has previously cut inspired albums of Leonard Cohen covers (A Thousand Kisses Deep and WB Yeats poems (Sailing to Byzantium) . Here she brings her rich voice and idiosyncratic arrangements to the work of the poet Paul Muldoon. The moods and styles are varied. Zoological Positivism Blues and Longbones hit wonky, Waitsian grooves animated by the guitar squalls of Phil Robson, Promises Promises is languid and plaintive, and Horses sparse and dreamy. Tobin’s vocals, veering from acrobatic to sultry, are tailored perfectly for the material, her evocations of time and place precise. Classy and lovely.
