Piney Gir put thecowboy boots away, shelved the stylophone beatbox, and hit the loudest 12-string open-E chord you ever did hear.

Now Kansas' most unique songwriter returns with her finest album to date. "Geronimo!" is pure pop brilliance, a tell-it-to-the-Byrds journey into heartbreak, friendship and new love.

After these 40 minutes you'll have caught the sun and people will ask you where you've been on holiday.

And the answer will be "I went to LA in the 60's via the Plastic Ono Band with a twist of Captain Beefheart.

I drank the Kool-Aid and I'll never be the same again." From the quit-the-bar-hittheroad verve of "Let's Get Silly', to the romantic opener "Outta Sight', you're going to remember why true love matters and why pop music, at least, will never run off with someone else.

"Oh Lies' captures the scent and mood of the Beach Boys once they'd stopped surfing and started peering Spectorishly across the bar, pining after the kind of sweetheart you'll want to marry and take home to mother.

This record moves on mellotrons, effortlessly combining a cool sixties chic with some riotous rockabilly moments.

It's the real deal and features guest stars from Brian Wilson's percussion section to Sgt.

Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club brass (yes, really, The Beatles' brass!). Finally, "Say Goodbye' is the kind of closer most bands would sell a bass player to have written, an optimistic funeral march with mariachi trumpets and that tuneful longing for which Piney Gir is renowned.

Meanwhile in LA, where the album was recorded with renowned producer Rob Campanella (from the Brian Jonestown Massacre), this album drives everywhere.

So get the top down, crank up the volume and... "Geronimo!"