Grant-Lee Phillips Virginia Creeper [Zoë] Subtle, intelligent, literate to the point of literary, Grant-Lee Phillips is a songwriter of estimable vision and grace. With Virginia Creeper, he outdoes his former Grant Lee Buffalo work and even that of his formidable previous solo release Mobilize. These songs take their time -- not in a lackadaisical or flat manner, but in that they're in no hurry to get to a hook or a lyrical payoff. Part of this may be because practically every phrase and every twist of melody is a hook and lyrical payoff. Woody acoustic guitars, subdued drums, incidental pianos, accordions and harmonies wend their way around Phillips' adept voice. On the opener, "Mona Lisa," with its haunted violin and Phillips' low-register croon lifting into a sweet chorus, the mood for the entire record is established and never betrayed. The slow Steve Earle-meets-16 Horsepower banjo churn of "Josephine of the Swamps" and the melancholy calm of "Susanna Little" show that Phillips has the compositional muscle to match the strength of his economical, evocative lyrics. -- CS

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