Out next month on Saddle Creek Records, Land of Talk’s Fun and Laughter EP marks the return of vocalist Lizzie Powell after being sidelined by the necessity for late in 2008 with vocal ailments. Now healthy and rarin’ to go Fun and Laughter’s four new songs denote a sophisticated turn for the band, a veer away from experimenting with fast and unique guitar and vocal rhythms as a focus, and instead placing emphasis on framing the uniqueness of her voice in new ways. Powell can really sing, and these songs show it (although I admit they may have been a bit heavy handed with the vocal layering plus reverb).

MP3: “May You Never” by Land of Talk from Fun and Laughter courtesy of Saddle Creek Records

As opposed to Land of Talk’s previous LP’s featuring succinct rhythmic idea’s with pace that led to shorter songs, each of these songs have developed buildups and just feel a bit more fragile, a direction indicated by a Fleetwood Mac homage from their last record, “It’s Okay.” The song we’re featuring above certainly contains a few choice bars of Powell’s identifiable guitar strum and even has room for some kooky guitar antics, but her voice is clearly out front and really the star if the show now. We couldn’t be more happy that she’s back.

Peep one of the new video’s for songs from the last album that are included on the EP below. This one is for “The Man Who Breaks Things (Dark Shuffle):”

Fun and Laughter arrives October 13th. Pre-order the Limited Edition Fun and Laughter directly with Saddle Creek Records for a mere $7.

Land of Talk visits Seattle at the High Dive with Virgin Islands on Thursday November 5th. Tickets are available via Ticketweb for $10 adv.