Exene’s first solo album since 1991, is a sometimes dreamy but always intimate, circuitous passage through folk and country; subdued, but no less edgy. Invoking other artists who travel easily between the worlds of words and music like Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith, Exene’s lyrics and immediately recognizable, simultaneously fragile and totemic vocals carry all the passion of X without all the loud.

Possessing the eye and heart of a poet, Exene subverts lyrical expectations to create an atmosphere of both strain and empathy, speaking to the isolated and forsaken romantic in all of us. Hers is a world of the natural and the elemental intermingling with our lives and loves. The gravityless drone of “Surface of the Sun” or swimming in the wind to escape the hurricanes of “Somewhere Gone” paint our struggles in an ethereal light.

Sonically, Somewhere Gone is a sometimes sparse, sometimes exuberant blend of folk, deep country and wide-open spaces. Exene’s guitar playing (she plays on most of the songs) and the somber cello/viola of Amy Farris (Dave Alvin’s Guilty Women, Alejandro Escovedo, Kelly Willis) give the title track a sense of urgency, while the far-out west reverb and back pew organ of “Sound of Coming Down” are as liberating as a freefall. On the only song not written by Exene, an ancient ballad of the hills “The Willow Tree,” she duets with Amy and the chill and ache of the ages is in it; the hope that lies in the dirt. Also lending ample their handiwork is Joe Terry (Skeletons, Morells) on barrelhouse piano, producer Lou Whitney (Skeletons) on bass, Dex Romweber (Dex Romweber Duo, Flat Duo Jets) on keyboards, Cindy Wasserman (Dead Rock West) and Jason Edge on guitar.

“These are eerie folk songs — Exene’s voice has that timeless, rural, conversational quality — although all but one song are originals. It’s tempting to read intimations of morality into the record. But it’s more a welcomed return than a valedictory.” —Blurt