At the End of Paths Taken

Despite its title, the Cowboy Junkies album, 'At the End of Paths Taken', is as much about new beginnings as it is about endings. It is also about human connections, the struggle to sustain those connections over time, and the complexities that can arise even when those connections are maintained. It is, in other words, a classic Cowboy Junkies album - a suite of smart, richly textured songs that value subtlety over broad, generic strokes, songs that prize insight and casual revelations over easily digestible cliches.

'At the End of Paths Taken' features evocative string arrangements by Canadian composer Henry Kucharzyk which lend songs "Brand New World" and "Spiral Down" a sense of beauty and an unsettling feeling of apprehension.

Family lies at the heart of the album's eleven songs, and, of course, that is appropriate, too. Three of the band's members - singer Margo Timmins; songwriter, producer and guitarist Michael Timmins; and drummer Peter Timmins - are siblings, and bassist Alan Anton has been a member since the group formed in Toronto in 1985. Few bands have lasted nearly as long with their original line-up intact, and fewer still have created as consistently satisfying a body of work. Albums like 'The Trinity Session' (1988), 'Black Eyed Man' (1992), 'Miles From Our Home' (1988) and 'Early 21st Century Blues' (2005), to isolate just a few high points, chronicle a creative journey that is impervious to trends.