Second Attention (2006)

James Toth, a.k.a. Wooden Wand, is best known as the leader of the Vanishing Voice, a psychedelic troupe that favors murky improvisation. For Second Attention, his sixth album in the last three years, though, he assembled a lean new backing band to record 10 remarkably strong electric-folk originals. Their stripped-down, country-tinged vibe is often reminiscent of Dylan circa John Wesley Harding. More importantly, so are the arresting images of God and death that fill Toth's drawled lyrics.