Recorded by a group nearing a state of fracture, The Real Ramona had no right to be as good as it was. The production can feel a bit glossy, but the (perhaps unexpected) bonus to that is that you’ve never been able more clearly to hear exactly how Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly merge and wind together their guitar lines. Two of the most unfairly overlooked, powerfully creative guitarists of their generation, on a song like Hersh’s “Hook In Her Head”, they’re as coruscating as Sonic Youth, while David Narcizo’s drums are positively thunderous. That it’s followed by Donelly’s ultimate pop confection, “Not Too Soon” gives The Real Ramona real breadth, though listening back, it’s the tense, hermetic vision of “Ellen West”, and the closing, graceful group composition “Two Step”, that shine brightest.