Boo Hewerdine and Darden Smith come from very different worlds. Hewerdine hails from Cambridge, England, where he leads the Bible, a pop band with subtle folk overtones. Smith is a songwriter from Austin, Texas, who's steeped in grit and twang.

Somewhere in the middle, these two emergent songwriters found a common ground between two vastly different cultures and sensibilities. Evidence, their wonderful collaboration, is proof positive that music can be the great equalizer.

Cut live in fourteen days with a stellar cast of players – among them guitarist Sonny Landreth of John Hiatt's Goners – Evidence captures the exhilaration of two young songwriters coming into their powers. Drawing on British pop, American roots rock and stray Rasta rhythms, the pair decided to check the rules at the door and go beyond their respective boundaries.

It works. On the bridge of the title track, Hewerdine pushes his limit as a vocalist, hitting the words of disappointment and betrayal as ardently as if he were in the throes of these emotions. The same can be said for the desire that drips from Smith's roughshod drawl on "All I Want (Is Everything)," a song about the all-encompassing parameters of modern desire.

Indeed, yearning – for new loves, old loves and loves long gone – is the album's dominant theme. But Hewerdine and Smith have the good sense to never reduce their sentiment to some Hallmark card from the singer-songwriter set. Instead, they keep their arrangements taut and their metaphors as far from commonplace as possible, which explains a rollicking song called "Love Is a Strange Hotel."

The urgency that resonates on these tracks comes from a passion for the songs, not fancy production tricks designed to suck the listener in. Easily the most seductive thing about this pairing is the way the two voices interact, constantly bending and twisting against each other. Hewerdine and Smith have split the difference between their cultures and styles with a fervor and style that's singular. (RS 562)

HOLLY GLEASON