Veterans of the Canadian roots circuit, Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland have been supporting each other in music and in marriage for the better part of the decade. Now performing as Whitehorse, the couple finally sounds like a single, convincing and coherent outfit, and its self-titled debut from last year smartly polishes rusty Americana idioms. The pair heads for the sweet but slightly spooky hills for a cover of Springsteen's "I'm on Fire," gives Gram and Emmylou a run for their harmonies on the hooky breakup tune "Broken" and rakes up the coals of fiery, blues-doomed country and gospel on their best song, "Killing Time Is Murder."
What's the Back Story? Doucet is a rockabilly guitar slinger with credentials (including work with Sarah McLachlan) while McClelland is a smoky singer with a serious Tom Waits jones.
