Chris Whitley: Terra Incognita

The first 64 seconds of Terra Incognita, the third album from enigmatic singer/guitarist Chris Whitley, recall the bone-dry desert music that populated his brilliant debut, Living With The Law. And while the heavy-handed guitar-rock of 1995's Din Of Ecstasy grows on you once you get used to it, the sound of Whitley and an acoustic steel guitar is awfully exciting to hear again. Lamentably, the excerpted opening track ("As Flat As The Earth") is little more than a tease; with the exception of the chiming "Immortal Blues," much of Incognita's remainder trafficks in the meatier electric rock of its immediate predecessor. And to lesser effect: While the obvious single "Automatic" has a hummably anthemic chorus (and boy-pleasing lyrics), most of Terra Incognita lands somewhere in a mushy middle ground, with Whitley's gift for harrowing atmospherics shelved in favor of blues-rock songs that feature solid guitar work but often don't gel. "Cool Wooden Crosses" nicely combines electricity and ambience—and there's joy in the way "Power Down" revels in thunderous riffing—but the album doesn't live up to either of its very different predecessors.