WIT'S END

Make no mistake, WIT’S END is a profoundly depressing record, and if you tend to naturally feel a little down in the dumps, I can’t truly recommend it in good conscience. But if you’re gonna mope, you might as well do it all the way, and WIT’S END derives its unique magnetism from Cass McCombs’s utter commitment to funereal tempo and haunted lyricism. “County Line” is for everyone, though: It’s his greatest song to date and an instant heartbreak standard, serving as a relatively accessible entryway to a batch of dirges that accumulate absorptive, uncanny power like a version of Astral Weeks filtered through the Joy Division’s gothic bleakness. To call WIT’S END a grower sells it short: It aims for nothing less than total consumption.