A basic message poured from the soul, stripped of flash and adornment, can rip your heart in two if pulled off correctly. Think of Sunny Day Real Estate's "Two Promises": the repeated lyrics, simple song-form and straightforward music all help to drive Enigk's message into your head. Neil Young's "Needle and the Damage Done" is another song that can reduce a man to tears, simply on the strength of Young's gut-wrenching warbled vocals, an acoustic guitar and the saddest-ass story you've ever heard. In both cases, it's not really about the musicianship or the vocal training of the person who sings over it: it's the emotion.

That's about all the segue I can muster. Now, introducing Wooden Ghost.

There really is no way to clearly characterize this band or their music. It's neither a wholly stylized creation, nor do they mimic any other band. Sure, there are echoes of Sunny Day Real Estate, the quiet side of Nirvana ("Polly", "Something in the Way") and Logh, but lumping Wooden Ghost in with these bands just because they all play guitars and sing honest songs would be an ignorant move. Yes, Brent Cole's voice shows the influence of Gordon Gano, The Meat Puppets's Kirkwood brothers and traces of Mr. Thom Yorke, but again, it's more an example of great minds thinking alike than a comp on those guys.

"Machines", No Minute's opener, is a garage-style number built around a steady guitar vamp as Cole's mysterious lyrics: "Keep doing what you're doing, putting money on machines...invisible body you cannot break apart no matter how strong the hands the god you live with gave you." Several other up-tempo cuts follow similar lines (see "Been Gone", "World On a String"), but the real highlights are the tracks that wallow in melancholy and ennui. "Last Chance" hovers in the ether like a spirit leaving a body; its lilting steel guitar, slowly driven tempo and lyrics -- "This is the last chance you'll ever have to apologize for the things you feel bad for" -- will go right through you. The laid-back "Feels Life" pushes all the right old school country buttons, evoking visions of somewhere we've all been ("And it feels like sometimes you don't know how you're gonna put your feet on the ground the next morning, but you know you have to.").

There's a power in honesty, and Wooden Ghost knows it. No Minute doesn't hide behind trends, or promise "the next big thing". Instead, the band has found a way to make music that transcends fads, and will resonate in your mind long after you've left the comfort of your stereo. Then again, once you've heard No Minute Gone Comes Ever Back Again, Take Heed and See Ye Nothing, you might never want to leave.