Sally Timms is perhaps best known as a member of the Mekons - which she joined in 1985 - but she has released a number of solo efforts and worked on a variety of projects during her twenty-plus year career. She tackled a variety of genres from punk to country and always seems to have a new idea up her sleeve even if each album takes a number of years to come to fruition. Timms is first and foremost a singer, so it's not a surprise that her most recent release, 2004's In the World of Him, only contains one song she wrote herself.

What is somewhat surprising is the songs Sally choose to include on this album. Everything here was written by a man and she sings each track from its original male perspective with her undeniably womanly voice. The tracks deal with themes including war, death, abandonment, and failed or confused relationships with women. Now this type of gender-bending concept album isn't anything novel, but Timms' strength with this approach lies in her ability to effectively interpret these lyrics with the understated perceptiveness of a woman. The whole album feels like a confessional of sorts revolving around the tenuous reach for absolute understanding between the sexes.

Sally Timms doesn't dig far on a number of the tracks as two of them, "Bomb" and "Corporal Chalkie" are redone Mekons songs and "Sentimental Marching Song" was written by her bandmate Jon Langford. The familiarity factor here won"t impress existing fans of Timms or the Mekons, but the opening song by Jon Langford does set the stage for the sharp themes of the album with the line, "all men the same born to brutalise on every scale."

The best songs on In the World of Him are those less recognizable. While these do cover a variety of styles these tunes all have a cohesive feel which is especially surprising considering the multiple songwriters featured here. Think Portishead with cabaret overtones and a bit more rock. "I'm Just a Man," written by Kevin Coyne, is presented with a bit of alt.country twang and beautiful lyrics like, "It's not that I even want to marry you, because marrying you would mean I'd have to chain you not choose you." The war song "139 Hernalser Gurtel" evokes the cabaret feel complete with creepy insinuations while "High Dosage" finds a man reflecting on dying alone.

Ryan Adams' "Fools We Are as Men" is easily the masterpiece of the album. The music on this track revolves around some simple acoustic guitar work with a bit of accordion to add to the atmosphere. Not only is it a finely written song, but Timms presents this piece - about a man mourning the loss of his woman and his fears of being alone - with such quiet intensity and striking magnificence that it cannot be ignored. Some albums have the song which makes the whole worth every penny you spent on it and this is the one for In the World of Him.

In many ways I think this release is Sally Timms' attempt to reconcile some things about her personal life. Knowing that she split up with her husband during the making of this album definitely adds to that, but this is certainly not a male-bashing collection. Instead Timms seems more concerned with delving into the male psyche a bit and happens to dip into her own in the process. This is also conveyed through her choice of cover art - a recreation of a Larry Sultan photograph from his series "The Valley." While the original featured porn star Sharon Wild on set between takes the cover art here shows Sally in a very similar pose - in both the women hold themselves and stare at the camera with a hollow look. I guess the overall interpretation of all that is going on here - visually and musically - will ultimately depend on your perception, but In the World of Him is absolutely worth checking out.

Recommended: Yes