Leftfield hiphop trooper, Sage Francis, offers his first new album since '07s 'Human The Death Dance'. On 'Li(f)e' he employs the talent of producer Brian Deck (formerly of Califone) to give a country-fied twang to proceedings. Rustic slide guitars, jangling acoustic six-strings and thrummed bass are weighed with heavy drums on each track bar the lush sweep of closer 'The Best Of Times' produced by Yann Tiersen. Sage's style of confessional observations has been honed to a high degree, combining with the country production to give him the levity of a blues storyteller, arching his instinctive cadence with an impressive turn of phrase. Anticon heads and alt-country heads alike will love this.
