Christine Lavin is one of the most justly renowned modern singer-songwriters, whose songwriting and performing both shine. Getting In Touch With My Inner Bitch is an album of live performances, including some of her commentary and audience interactions, and it's almost like seeing her live. This is a solo album with no additional musicians; simply Lavin's vocals and guitar, and some amazing use of a Boomerang digital phrase sampler.

I'm not normally a fan of sampling, but this album has opened my eyes to some of its capabilities. On many of the songs Lavin uses it to add intricate vocal texturing by recording phrases live and then replaying them as she adds harmony and descants, often repeating the process as the texture grows in subtlety and intricacy. She uses the sampler as an instrument itself, and not as a substitute for instruments, and it's amazing to hear.

The songs include the mix of funny, serious and touching songs that is characteristic of Lavin's albums, and as usual it works very well. Lavin is excellent at pacing albums and choosing and ordering the songs for the best effect.

A serious song, "The Piper," is a standout. It sends chills down my spine. Whether one calls it logical consequences or karma, one does reap what one sows, and as a society we're doing that. "And we wonder how we got here / We know deep down / This has been percolating up / From the underground / As long as we avoid it / It can be ignored / But it's coming up the stairs / And now it's bangin at our door." And then the menacing chorus whispers: "Let me in / I know you're inside / I can hear you breathing / You can not hide / Let me in / I am not going away / I am the Piper / PAY." This disturbing and effective song is one of the best songs I've ever heard.

"Single Voice" is a more optimistic comment on the ability of an individual to influence things, and makes a lovely beginning to the album.

Three of the other serious songs focus on relationships, and make an interesting juxtaposition. "Another New York Afternoon" focuses on a man's seemingly futile search for a great love, while "Plateau" depicts a couple stuck in an unsatisfying relationship that isn't bad enough to leave. "Adjust Your Dreams/Shining My Flashlight" shows a path between these extremes, and features one of the album's most spectacular uses of the sampler. The song is dedicated to Megan McDonough, a fellow singer-songwriter, and is reminiscent of her work -- a nice tribute.

The other song that makes the most use of the sampler has more fun with it. In "Happy Birthday Maureen," Lavin single-handedly creates a chorus singing a round, and some of the note-shifted samples start sounding a little goofy. This isn't the Happy Birthday song that we're most familiar with, and it's a pleasant change.

"The Polka Dancing Bus Driver and the 40-Year-Old Mystery" is an affectionate recounting of a true story, where the bus driver of the title learns the reasons behind some rejections in high school. It's a spoken-word piece, and shows Lavin's ability to storytell using song and poetry. "You Look Pretty Good For Your Age" features a lot of audience interaction, and requires the use of a cordless mike and a miner's headlamp.

"Getting In Touch With My Inner Bitch" is presumably the reason for the "Explicit Lyrics" warning on this album (which is itself amusing for a Lavin album). It's not explicit except in its use of the word "bitch." Lavin describes moments with her own and other women's inner bitches, and i nodded and laughed in recognition. She captures some of the minor annoyances in life and makes them funny.

"Harrison Ford" illustrates Lavin's brief contact with "the only living movie star [she's] ever adored," to which she adds that the audience is thinking: "This is really pathetic. She has a 3-second experience with a movie star and she writes a 3-minute song. But if that's what you're thinking you would be very very wrong, because it was a 1-second experience and it's a 4-minute song."

"Piranha Women of the Avocado Jungle of Death" (the original title of the movie "Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death") is an alternate plot, written because Lavin's Aunt Patsy was in the movie and incautiously mentioned this to Lavin, who found the title inspirational. (By the way, the movie is a lot of fun. Really.)

To my mind the weakest song on the album is "What Was I Thinking in 1999?" Although most of it is funny and timeless, Monica Lewinsky is a significant sub-theme, and seems increasingly irrelevant as her fame moves into the past. The rest of the song is amusing and true, though, and I hope Lavin writes a less time-bound ending for it.

The audience-related bits are a good introduction to Lavin in concert, and display her skill interacting with and gently ribbing her audience, and will whet your appetite for seeing her yourself.

The album packaging includes very complete credits (including web addresses for most of the people and places mentioned), but no lyrics; the lyrics are on her website, though, so they are available. Particularly with "The Piper" it was good to have access to the printed lyrics, since they go by quickly in the song.

This is a wonderful album, and would be a welcome addition to anyone's Christine Lavin collection, to those who appreciate folk singer-songwriters, and to anyone curious about musical uses of samplers beyond the basic. And I'd buy this CD for the song "The Piper" alone.