Four albums and an EP since biting the Big Apple, Whitley offers "Firefighter." The track -- built around a heavy, fuzzy, electric-guitar line -- keeps the emphasis on rock, sharing more with early Sonic Youth songs than the alt-country material currently making the rounds.

In a gravelly voice from deep down in his gut, a voice that aches under the weight of his hope, Whitley professes his feelings for a girlfriend. The sentiments are simple and short, but haunting nonetheless. The emotion is so raw it's almost embarrassing to hear.

In a musical climate clogged with banal sentiments and flashing neon lights, Whitley offers the antidote, wrapped in a tender gauze of distortion. It doesn't get much better than this.