The low-fi revolution that has captured the hearts of independent labels has hit a new low. Palace Brothers' second album sounds as if it were recorded on a boombox in the back room of an old country home. More stripped down and focused than its predecessor, There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You (1993), Palace Brothers features solely the choked-throat delivery of singer/songwriter and guitarist Will Oldham. "Brother" Todd Brashear (of the Louisville, Ky., band Slint) is apparently absent. By keeping the production values deliberately primitive, Oldham effectively re-creates the atmosphere of old Folkways field recordings: That's actual thunder you hear during "No More Workhorse Blues."

Perhaps a gimmick – however effective – this Appalachian-roots move is the perfect setting for Will Oldham's sad voice and twisted tales. "When you have no one, no one can hurt you," he sings on "You Will Miss Me When I Burn," the simple declaration tearing a greater hole in his heart with each successive, increasingly emphatic yell. For every honest moment, Oldham can't resist tossing in what comes across as hillbilly-dipped-in-moonshine dribble. "The night time is the right time to pull all the dimes from your pocket/The night time is the right time to climb on the rocket/The night time is the right time to pull your shoulder out of its socket," he sings on "(Thou Without) Partner." The awkwardness of those lyrics makes you want to believe he made them up on the spot.

Much more controlled and better produced (relatively speaking, of course) is Hope, a six-song EP only six minutes shorter than Palace Brothers. Attributed to Palace Songs (Oldham is credited as Push), Hope augments its arrangements with piano, organ, bass, drums and electric guitar. The clarity and fullness of sound create a less intimate recording – you no longer feel as if you're eavesdropping on the sessions – but that doesn't stop the mournful procession of tunes. From "Agnes, Queen of Sorrow" to a spare reading of Leonard Cohen's "Winter Lady" to "Werner's Last Blues to Blokbuster," apparently a tribute to German film director Werner Herzog, the songs capture an incomparable dead-end austerity.

Both Palace Brothers and Hope evoke the Deep South that Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Band romanticized. Put on late at night with the lights out, these records transport you to another time and place – a place that may not be the real thing but sure feels like it.

Palace Brothers and Hope are both available from Drag City Records, 312-455-1015. (RS 701)

ROB O'CONNOR