Is there anything sexier than a smart girl with a guitar? As you may have gleaned from the clever name, Baltimore-based Mary Prankster is a gifted linguist, and her bittersweet, country-tinged rock songs are bright and funny, sad and soaring, all at once. She's got the lyrical twist of Dave Pirner ("I love you baby, I just love me so much more"), the wise ass- Patsy Cline honky-tonking delivery of Sabrina Rock Arena (if you took Sabrina's whiskey away, I mean. Mary seems more coffee-house than hell-for-leather rock dive), and the brilliant folk-pop songwriting style of Billy Bragg. At times, as on "Irresponsible Woman", she goes for a full-blown twangy torch sound, complete with a swelling orchestra and some full-on crooning, at times she approaches a kind of cowpunk powerpop, as on the title track, and at times, as on the brooding "Arm's Length", she just goes ahead and breaks your heart in half. Her band is terrific, and there's all kinds of incidental instrumentation going on- unless I'm just imagining the xylophones and French horns because I'm so dizzy from the lush splendor of it all. Plus, she's adorable. It's an irresistible combination, and this is one of the best singer-songwriter records I've ever heard, honestly. Yeah, I know, motherfucker, it's not like I'm deluged with them, but I've heard a few. I've dated hippie girls, you know. "Tell Your Friends"? Consider it done, Ms. Prankster.