\u201cI don\u2019t want to waste your time with music you don\u2019t need,\u201d sing Karin Bergquist at the beginning of Over the Rhine\u2019s new album The Trumpet Child<\/em>.<\/p>\n No worries, Karin.<\/p>\n We need this kind of glory, passion, and delight in the world.<\/p>\n Believe the hype. In some aspects, The Trumpet Child is<\/em> the best Over the Rhine album ever.<\/p>\n Production. Instrumentation. Class. Style. Karin wraps her tongue around these lyrics like she\u2019s savoring dark chocolate ice cream, and her voice is like a fine red wine. (Okay, that\u2019s not the most original metaphor, but doctors will tell you that red wine is good for you if you have it with dark chocolate, so\u2026.) Lyrically, it\u2019s lighter fare than what their fans have come to expect\u2026 the meter tips in favor of songs written for cleverness, pleasure and play here, rather than the spiritual questing and relationship wrangling that has dominated previous records.<\/p>\n But hey, after the hardship chronicled in the blues of their last studio record, Drunkard\u2019s Prayer<\/em>, The Trumpet Child <\/em>is a well-deserved party record, celebrating all of the good stuff in life: sex, jazz, Shel Silverstein, Tom Waits, Easter Sunday Morning\u2026 it\u2019s all here.<\/p>\n But man oh man, the album leaves me wanting more. In the very best ways. I want a second disc full of songs like these. They spoiled us rotten with that double-album Ohio <\/em>a few years back. It\u2019s hard to accept that this release is over in less than 42 minutes. I\u2019m glad I\u2019ve got tickets to both Seattle shows in September. It\u2019s gonna take that much to satiate my appetite for This Year\u2019s Model of Over the Rhine. Do I sound greedy? Hey, Karin herself declares, right here on this record, \u201cWhen it comes to wanting what\u2019s real \/ There\u2019s no such thing as greed.\u201d<\/p>\n In some cases, the individual songs leave me wanting more. I wanted the title track to keep going and going. I predict it\u2019s going to become The Favorite Over the Rhine Song for many of their fans. I heard them \u201ctry it out\u201d way last August, with just voice and piano, and it was awesome; hearing what they do with it here, well\u2026 it\u2019s going to achieve unforgettable moments of sacred glory at their future shows.<\/p>\n Oh, and what do you know: Linford Detweiler gets to ramble his way through a song that his fans will love even more than \u201cJack\u2019s Valentine.\u201d I hope \u201cDon\u2019t Wait for Tom\u201d pleases Tom Waits, because it is one heckuva tribute, running over with references to Waits not only in the lyrics but in Linford\u2019s rhythmic delivery too. Linford\u2019s piano performances are especially flirtatious and sprightly this time around, and he strikes up some combustible chemistry with the jazzy horn ensembles and guitars. It\u2019s a reinvention for Over the Rhine that will have listeners thinking of songwriters from Cole Porter to Portishead\u2019s Beth Gibbons.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve only heard the album through once. Anne and I lit candles and savored the experience, which is our ritual for first experiences with new Over the Rhine material. And although I\u2019ve been living with live performances of about half of these songs for close to a year now, I\u2019ve found the experience so intense and concentrated that I\u2019m waiting until tomorrow to listen again.<\/p>\n