So how are things going in the small, dark movie of your life?" The ominous question with which Greg Brown opens Further In is conveyed in a bottomless growl that sounds like it could use a shave and a hot bath. The bite in the line and Brown's rusty hook of a voice tell you why his previous albums have established him among the premier artists in contemporary folk music.

But Further In makes the Iowa-born singer/songwriter's distinguished catalog seem like a warm-up exercise. Built on sturdy acoustic melodies, minimally but beautifully embellished, Further In is a contemplative gem. The songs' unhurried tempos mimic the eddying drift of reflection itself, while the pace shows Brown's voice to be surprisingly flexible and undeniably sexy; he can bait that rusty hook with honey, whiskey or blood.

A wickedly sharp observer of the human condition, Brown downsizes his universe to fit that shifting space between two humans that we call a relationship. His songs are skewed toward melancholy – withdrawal ("China"), longing ("If You Don't Get It at Home"), regret ("If I Ever Do See You Again") – yet he never succumbs to cynicism. "It's a messed-up world," Brown sings in "Two Little Feet," "but I love it anyway. I love it." With that emphatic aside, Greg Brown gives us more than enough light to find our way through his small but not entirely dark masterwork.

For more information, write to Red House Records, PO Box 4044, St. Paul, MN 55104. (RS 748)

BEN EDMONDS