The Gentle Guest: "Cast Off Your Human Form"

The album's sepia-toned cover shows clowns mingling with a lost-looking marching band on a small-town gravel road. One not-so-jolly jester lunges forward as if he's about to punch the photographer. His spirit haunts each song, too, giving sweet, sad melodies a sour and soulful bite. With old-timey musical details - backwoods banjos, jazzy muted trumpets, call-and-response vocals - the Eau Claire band's crafted an ideal environment for laying bare emotions most modern folk aren't apt to display in public, from barroom rage to abject heartbreak.