Rasputina is a spooky-sounding, female-fronted three-piece band with two cellos. Their live shows involve fabulous costumes, with as much mystery as corset. On Sister Kinderhook, there is no drum set whatsoever, with only a small smattering of percussion at all. This is not a pop album. It is strange. But it is pretty good.

The album starts off ethereally with "Sweet Sister Temperance," a haunting and interesting tune that stands out as one of the better tracks on the album. The second track, "Holocaust of Giants" is probably the best, telling of the band's knowledge of an ancient race of giants having lived in Ohio, stemming from the discovery of a very large, fossilized bone. Cute and catchy, it got the best response of all the new songs when played live.

The album takes some interesting, though not groundbreaking turns, including an "Olde Dance" that sounds as if it were quite olde indeede. This is followed by the creepiest song on the album, "Humankind, As the Sailor." Deeper than "Sweet Sister Temperance," it contains a similarly haunting melody, but this sinks rather than floats (in a good way).

Unfortunately, the album does not progress too much from there, and begins to drag. At 14 tracks and about 50 minutes, the album is long for such a strange-sounding excursion, without drums or real hooks. Many songs clock in at about four minutes or more. What starts off fascinating begins to wear out by the end.

The album is good, and adventurous listeners looking for something different rather than something catchy will find something to like. However, unless you have a serious attention span, I recommend you take it in smaller doses, possibly focusing on the first half of the album.