I’ve been a huge Scout Niblett fan since I saw her on a whim a few years ago at the Black Cat here in DC. The show was not so well attended, which while surely not pleasing to Ms. Niblett, made the evening seem more personal and resultantly more exhilarating than a packed house might’ve been. Scout’s a disarming, quixotic performer, and her two previous albums (Kidnapped By Neptune and I am) perfectly capture her on-stage demeanor.

I can’t help but feel that the new record, This Fool Can Die Now (out in mid-October on Too Pure) is a step away from the unvarnished truth of her previous efforts. This is not to say that the record is contrived. It’s that there’s more artifice there now, more attempts to be poetic and sweeping rather than direct and to the point.

The results aren’t bad; they’re even excellent at times. “Kiss” is a well-rendered duet with Will Oldham, and “Nevada”, which Scout performed during her latest swing through DC, harkens back to the best of her previous efforts. But as a whole, the record doesn’t grab me the same way, doesn’t compel me to keep listening.

I’ll stick with it, though. Maybe it’ll grow on me as a whole. Her past efforts have been so rewarding that I owe this new record the fairest of shakes, which I haven’t given it quite yet.