Winsconsin's enfant prodige Susan Voelz, who used to play in Texas roots-rockers Poi Dog Pondering, followed the example of another superb violin player, Lisa Germano, and turned to songwriting and singing with 13 Ribs (Voodoo, 1992 - Pravda, 1993), a collection of modest ballads in the confessional vein of Suzanne Vega (Good Day To Die, Let Me Be Your Bible).

A fuller, more varied arrangement lends Summer Crashing (Pravda, 1995) a dreamy, surreal quality. The mournful ballads (Happy, Step Off The Roof, 3 AM) are suspended in time, wrapped in a solemn haze, and possibly it is the instrumental track, Mystic River Bridge, that best summarizes the passing of time inside a lonely woman's head.