Tindersticks have done several duets with female singers, but "Sometimes It Hurts", featuring Lhasa de Sela, finally hit the home run they've been looking for over the last decade. "Travelling Light" didn't really stick out among an album of maudlin uniformity. "Marriage Made in Heaven", with Isabella Rossellini, came really close to a round-tripper, but was a bit too playful and thus leaned away from 'Sticks greatest strength -- really really sad music. The "Simple Pleasure" album was full of female backing vocals, no duets per se, and no standout vocal contributions, but the focus on 60's soul was a fascinating departure from a band that had very nearly pigeonholed itself. So we can let them off the hook there.

Nonetheless, Tindersticks peaked with their debut, and hadn't made a truly great album since "Curtains" in 1997. The last thing I'd expected from them in 2003 was an Album of the Year Candidate and their best duet to date (good, because I'd hate to be the band who'd foretold their own irrelevance by naming their last great album "Curtains", wouldn't you?). "Sometimes It Hurts" is funny, wistful, introspective, and far and away the most charming thing they've ever done. It's a fun listen, with it's jaunty tune and the gentle interplay between the voices, and thus it makes you want to hear it again as soon as it's over. But it's also dripping with sadness, which makes you think twice about hearing it again.

Each song on "Waiting for the Moon", taken separately, sounds like the finale of an album. It's just that epic, just that moving. My faith in Tindersticks has been roundly restored over the past year.