by: Stephen Holden, New York Times News Service, page: 27

New York - The narrator of Dust Bowl, a stark dramatic monologue from 10,000 Maniacs' new album, Blind Man's Zoo (Elektra), is a mother who can barely afford to feed her children.

"I should know to leave them home," she reflects. "They follow me through the store with these toys I can't afford-- 'Kids, take them back, you know better than that.' "

The character explains that the illness of her youngest daughter has cost her three days in lost pay. Worrying about the medical bills, she entertains a fantasy of winning the lottery, then snaps back to reality and silently warns her children to brace themselves for a cold wind that "won't bring anything much our way but more dust bowl days."

The economic struggle of America's working class is only one of many serious topics addressed on the third album by the folk-rock band from Jamestown, N.Y.

Eat for Two is the first-person monologue of a woman five months' pregnant with a baby she doesn't want.

While Blind Man's Zoo marks the emergence of Natalie Merchant, 10,000 Maniacs' lead singer and principal songwriter, as a major voice in the late '80s folk revival, the mood of the songs is grim and disheartened.

"I didn't realize it when I was writing these songs, but the one thing that seems to repeat over and over is the theme of betrayal," Merchant said in a recent interview. "In one song, it's the people who serve the nation betraying the nation. In another song, it's one nation betraying another. And in the song Hateful Hate, one race betrays another."

"In songs like Dust Bowl, I tried to carry the personal to a universal level," the singer went on to explain. "If you multiplied the problems of that woman with the number of people in this country who are in the same situation, it would come to millions."

"The song Eat for Two seems timely, since women's reproductive rights is such a divisive issue right now," she continued. "The song looks into the future and imagines a time when women have no alternatives and are forced to have children."

Merchant's message songs are powered by a sense of urgency that is exacerbated by the uncertainties of the pop world.