Cross the Line

This finely crafted six-song EP by local songwriting/performing duo Sunday Iris—aka Lisa Langley and Dave Elke—is compact yet intense. Recorded at Elke’s home studio, Cross the Line has a warm, down-home feel, but is elevated in intensity by Langley’s extraordinary vocal expressiveness paired with her talent as a wordsmith whose lyrical depictions touch on the theme of human vulnerability. The sequencing of the songs lays out a challenging, poetic journey, beginning with the finger-picked Americana love story of “Cold Mountain,” in which a couple traces their lives along the lines as the railroad lays out its “ribbon rail” into their future. The title song is steeped in the sort of gorgeous melancholy that Emmylou Harris has built a career on, and a brilliantly chosen cover of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice” rounds out the set with a touch of passive-aggressive acceptance of our human complexity.

Sunday Iris EP-release party Sunday, Oct. 15, 6 p.m., at Blue Room Theatre. Cost: $15 (includes copy of CD).