MUSIC Albums give 2 views of the South

HARTFORD COURANT
The competing views of the South on display on two albums are so vastly different that it scarcely seems possible they're about the same region.
Jim White's South is a mystical place where everything is a symbol for something else. His third album, "Drill a Hole in That Substrate and Tell Me What You See," wraps his Southern Gothic lyrics in the musical equivalent of daybreak, and White murmurs the words atop the muted colors created by woozy layers of guitars, keyboards and strings. It's no surprise when the Lord turns up on "If Jesus Drove a Motorhome"; likewise, it's just part of the ride when Aimee Mann's voice drifts through the background of "Static on the Radio."
Scarier image
Patterson Hood's South is a much starker, scarier place, where your worst enemy is what's inside your own head. Better known, though not by a lot, for his work with the Drive-By Truckers, Hood recorded "Killers and Stars" by himself in his dining room in March 2001. Carried by his ragged voice and acoustic guitar, the songs evoke hot sleepless nights spent assessing and reassessing life. "What good is an assassin who just can't follow through?" he sings on "The Assassin," and the meaning goes beyond literal. Hood's humor is darker than White's, too, on "Belinda Carlisle Diet" ("cocaine and milkshakes, milkshakes and cocaine") and "Uncle Disney," which figures on a reckoning when ol' Walt thaws.
Which South is the real one? Both. Neither. Some combination of the two. It doesn't really matter, because each vision has its charm. It just depends which you prefer.