Wisely Merchant has taken her time to follow-up her masterpiece Ophelia. Motherland doesn't quite have the charmed thread that wove Ophelia together like a magic carpet ride, but it is certainly a fine effort and contains two songs that could be included into the top ten of her considerable body of work. Motherland finds Merchant taking a more organic approach to her instrumentation, including a tasty batting of accordion, violin and banjo, that give it a kind of gypsy charm. As was the case with Ophelia, her new offering doesn't have a very good radio single--then again she really doesn't have much of a place amid today's radio-market. As always Natalie's gift as a lyricist challenge the listener at every turn and prove that her harvest his far from finished.