Casualties of Cool

Prog/avant-garde metal giant Devin Townsend and unknown Canadian pop singer Ché Aimee Dorval team up, change their names, and make a "country" album. And a damn fine one, too. Dreamy with strange textures of ambient pop woven through all those strong, persistent honky tonk beats. Not at all what I expected, and on paper, this is exactly the kind of thing I'd reject. But hearing it executed so beautifully, I am left with a different opinion. Incredible how they can make me imagine what country music would sound like in space, like if it was the preferred music of an astronaut.