Out of Our Minds

In some ways, the greatest irony of Auf der Maur's independently produced second album is that she'd never have been able to deliver anything this ambitious on a major label. She's backed here by an all-star studio cast that includes Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, former Marilyn Manson bassist Jeordie White, and David Bowie pianist Mike Garson, and Auf der Maur has fleshed out the album's concept with both a comic and an art-house film. Impressively, it works, threading together layers of narrative and sonic detail to create the sort of song (and story) cycle a listener could easily get lost in. As she sings on the title track, "If you're listening, you're a dreamer/ Come sit by the fire."