Stone Irr is the product of a special kind of Midwestern religious folk.Just start with the name: what seems like an obvious pun was, in fact, anhonest mistake, and as soon as Stone's parents found out, they offeredto take him to the Lafayette, Indiana courthouse and change it. He wasalready in middle school. True story.Stone Irr's debut album is called Sinner. It's a record that renders thelistener vulnerable, and it's Stone's voice that is most disarming. At itspeak, a belted croon that bursts out of his small frame, but at othermoments, and just as effortlessly, a controlled, focused whisper. Hissongwriting dips into the intimacy of early Sufjan Stevens and theattractive brood of a Jeff Buckley album. The lyrics tapping into the openheart of The Antlers and doing the poetic work of early Elliott Smith. Astart-to-finish listen is a ritual reminder of what laying yourself bare canyield: the possibility of loving and hurting, building and destroying, tobe loud and to be soft. And this possibility is as intoxicating as it isterrifying.