Sure, Thing of the Past is a cover album, but let's not use that term. Andy Cabic prefers to call it his "mixtape to the world," so why not? The album succeeds at sounding like something given to you by a good friend, provided that friend, like Cabic, spends much of his time combing the shelves of thrift shops for old, spectacularly obscure country/folk recordings. Case in point: "Sleep a Million Years," which serves as the poster song and showpiece for the album. It's a nugget.

Cabic dug up a privately-released disc by Kathy Heideman (I know: who?), which comes to us, largely due to Vashti Bunyan's vintage Sandy Denny-esque vocals, as a virtual time capsule of late-sixties folk existentialism. Cabic and Bunyan have toured the song all over the United Kingdom, where it no doubt feels rather familiar.

Similar finds abound on Thing of the Past, and it speaks to Cabic's taste that there's not a forgettable song among them. Norman Greenbaum's "Hook and Ladder" is lighter than cotton candy, but its whistling and singsong vocals "There's a fire, and I'm burnin'/Better get the hook and ladder, darling," are meant for fun. Garland Jeffreys' "Lon Chaney" is a heartbreaker, a piano ballad devastatingly bittersweet, with extra credit for being about Hollywood's Wolfman. Cabic wouldn't hear of an album without some dirty rockabilly, and it doesn't get much dirtier than a song about a truck (Michael Hurley's "Blue Driver"), where Brent Dunn's 12-bar bassline earns Vetiver Roger Miller's golden hood ornament. Sanders Trippe's guitar work is a standout, on "Road to Ronderlin"'s slides and on "Houses," taking a stab at licks originated by Neil Young.

The tracks aren't all "where-the-heck-did-they-dig-this-up?" doozies, though. There's some Townes Van Zandt ("Standin'") and even Loudon Wainwright III, in what might well be the most recognizable offering in the mix, if only because "The Swimming Song" has lately been popping up on indie film soundtracks. As if in respect to this, Cabic plays it straight with this one.

Sure, the concept's iffy, and more likely to appeal those who share Cabic's taste in the first place. But given that he's taken the time to choose songs that nobody (or likely anybody) has done a better job of replicating, it's hard to accuse him of laziness. If your heart's absolutely set on making a "mixtape to the world," you can't do much better than Cabic.

- Claire Shefchik