With album titles like Springtime Can Kill You and the newly minted The Living and the Dead, Jolie Holland must be stoked for Día de los Muertos. Holland's death-tinged tunes echo the eerie traditionalism of Tom Waits. More than just an influence, Waits figures into her career arc: Her homemade 2003 debut album, Catalpa, earned his praises and was snatched up by Waits' label, Anti-. On Holland's latest record, the ancient tongues of folk, jazz and blues are melded into rock and roll, with the ubiquitous M. Ward lending a hand. It's the perfect time of year for songwriting that conjures the restless ghosts of beat poets and forgotten bluesmen.
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