Howling Bells

Juanita Stein sings like she's watching a fire from a safe distance, and this 2006 debut turns that cool remove into a whole desert-noir world where menace and tenderness share the same reverb.

"Low Happening" is the case in point: a slow-burning waltz where the guitars hang back in shadow and Stein's voice curls around a threat she never quite names, patient enough to make you lean in. That patience is what separates the band from their brasher British peers of the moment — they'd rather let a line like "Wishing Stone" drift than punch it. Even the harder-edged "Broken Bones" keeps that composure, the fury filtered through a Nashville-by-way-of-London chill. What lingers isn't a hook but a temperature, an album that stays several degrees below the room.