If there was an old Western bar called the Saloon of the Dead Heart, Thalia Zedek and company would be the house band. Zedek’s weathered and stark accounts of lost love and failed relationships are so emotive, you wonder how she can find the strength to continue carrying her painful burden. In fact, in the back-to-the-relationship-drawing-board reflection “Back to School,” she questions “I’m scared that I’m alive. Can you tell that I’m alive?” Yipes.

The haggard miles in Zedek’s voice are not that of a musical rookie. She’s been in the business more than 20 years fronting significantly noisier bands like the critically acclaimed Come in the 90s and lesser-known acts such as Live Skull and Uzi in the 80s. Now she’s dramatically mellowed out, but the energy and intensity of her past work remains.

Throughout Been Here and Gone Zedek’s vocals are husky with a hint of twang like Kristen Hersh’s, but without the wild schizophrenia. She lies back in a sedated haze wondering “Grace, did you desert me? Just ‘cuz I’s flirting with the past,” (“Desanctified (Full Circle)”) and begging “I know you miss me. Treacherous thing. I know you forgive me,” (“Treacherous Thing.”)

Though the album has a slow, deep bluesy pace, it never drags. Zedek’s seasoned band finds a way to fill in every beat perfectly. The viola forlornly wanders through most songs as it’s interwoven with delicate and desperate slide guitar. And foreboding snare drum marches keep the sulking ship moving forward. Only Zedek’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love” strays from the album’s mild-mannered norm. The traditional-Jewish-Klezmer-influenced tune is a practically danceable, decadent romp.

Thalia Zedek leaves little hope for life, love or relationships on her first solo outing, but this portrait of her inner soul is a dose of masterfully orchestrated reality.

- Dave Powers
(As posted 8/2/01 on 3wk.com)