Scheherazade is Freakwater's eighth album and first in over 10 years. Like the the heroine of Scheherazade's The Arabian Nights, their longevity sometimes depends on leaving their audience hanging. It is a release of familiarity as much as it is one of change, one that is distinctly different, but never loses sight of what it is that makes them Freakwater: It's new blood from a familiar vein. Anchored around the fragile and compelling harmonies of Janet Bean and Catherine Irwin and the subdued, oracular bass playing of Dave Gay, their utterly unique sound is distilled from many sources.