By David Fricke (excerpted from "On the Edge")

Ideally, one of the big A&R scouts stampeding to Seattle in search of another Nirvana would cock an ear instead to the city's best-kept secret, the Walkabouts. Their latest album, Scavenger (Sub Pop), finds the band further refining its unique blend of rustic folk-rock elegance and brooding, punky propulsion, like Neil Young and Crazy Horse on a Velvet Underground kick (circa Loaded) with a dash of Patsy Cline in Carla Torgerson's haunting voice.

The Walkabouts journey through many territories, but owe allegiance to none. On Scavenger, their third album, they visit straight folk-rock ("River Blood"), driving pop ("Stir the Ashes"), and oblique introspection ("Where the Deep Water Goes," which survives Natalie Merchant's backing vocals). The glue that holds it all together is the bitter fatalism in guitarist/singer Chris Eckman's songs and the soulful way those songs are interpreted by main singer/guitarist Carla Torgerson. Threading through the album's ten songs is a bleak vision of internal desolation and rural tragedy, filled with the sadness of classic folk ballads and country-western laments. Gary Smith's production gives the Walkabouts a smoother sound than they've had before, replete with strings, keyboards, and even a guest spot by Brian Eno on the grand dirge "Train to Mercy." Eckman's and Torgerson's voices and barbed guitars remain front and center, though. Scavenger goes down smooth at first, but it hits when you least expect it, like a 100-proof cream liqueur. Imbibe it with abandon.

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