Kelli Schaefer: Beauty And Truth

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Leading a ghostly, woozy romp through the streets of New Orleans, Kelli Schaefer hints at salvation in "City Morgue." Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Leading a ghostly, woozy romp through the streets of New Orleans, Kelli Schaefer hints at salvation in "City Morgue."

Courtesy of the artist

Like Sinead O'Connor, Kelli Schaefer possesses an almost otherworldly voice ­-- a beguiling instrument that conveys clear-eyed beauty and truth, sometimes dropping its guard to reveal vulnerability and sometimes baring its fangs like a cornered animal. In "City Morgue," Schaefer shows her soft­ side without losing her sense of danger. Leading a ghostly, woozy romp through the streets of New Orleans, she hints at salvation while promising disappointment.

"I will let you down" turns from a coy coo to a bold mantra, but it's impossible to resist the siren's call. Schaefer possesses the comfortingly eerie calm of someone equally at ease in total darkness and blinding light --­ and a voice capable of translating those experiences for the mortal realm.