Songs such as "Signposts," "Such Good Actors" and "Big Time Underground" are literate narratives that weave together like a cinematic treatise on romantic encounters. "The film unreels before me/The celluloid of all these years," Peters sings on "Actors," unafraid of looking back at actions and events both good and bad. Sounding like a cross between Lucinda Williams and Chrissie Hynde, Peters' voice is capable of making even the most difficult situations come off as optimistic. The fact that her fine backing band keeps the proceedings sprightly (thereby avoiding any descent into an overly earnest, Edie Brickell-like wasteland) is just a bonus on an already well-built collection.