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If you're one of those crotchety shut-ins who still dusts off early/mid-'90s 7-inches and LPs from the likes of Jessamine, the Shadow Ring, Strapping Fieldhands, and whatever slow-burning goodies labels such as Chocolate Monk, Drunken Fish, Little Brother, Majora, and Road Cone offered, then local label Spleen Coffin has a tasty new buzz just for you. Rosemary Krust, a duo of Towsonites Kathleen Plummer and William Hardy, sketches the sort of ephemeral, meandering folk/psych rock-cum-swirl pop that's perfect for wandering around Cylburn Arboretum for four hours--because either you're just taking in the sights, sounds, and smells or you can't quite remember where you parked.

According to its MySpace page, the Krust first performed live in April 2007, and since then Plummer and Hardy have cranked out a debut CD-R, a well-received 7-inch, and now this levitating 13-song release. Plummer sings in a meandering alto that slightly recalls Barbara Manning, only Plummer prefers to warble and drift, which better suits the music's dream-of-consciousness ooze. Guitar strums circle like concatenating puddle rings; clunky electronics loop and run-on like an alarm clock waiting to be snoozed; some kind of bowed stringed instrument cries VU-ish loneliness; and sometimes Hardy's voice joins Plummer (or she multi-tracks hers), and the overlapping verbal stew makes you feel like you've wandered into a schizophrenic's internal debate. That these total-immersion songs are branded with such woozily opaque titles as "Something Better," "Fishgills," and "Private Amber"--as in "trapped in" or how your sister's friend treats you when your sister isn't around?--only more deliciously clouds this duo's lovely, murky depths. ()

For more information visit www.myspace.com/rosemarykrust

E-mail Bret McCabe