The lyrical longing of “Come Home” that opens Assembling by Two Sheds belies the album’s hurried nature. The band’s sophomore outing – written and recorded in less than a week on a dare – is acerbic, intimate and lasting. The immediacy of Assembling is both the album’s greatest strength and weakness. Featuring opening count-offs on “It’s Okay, “Heavy” and “Gone”, singer Caitlin Gutenberger (Release the Sunbird) overplays the album’s spontaneity, yet delivers lyrically on the insouciant “I Am My Own” and the pensive “Choose”. Backed by husband Johnny Gutenberger (Far), Josh Barnhart (Release the Sunbird, Port O’Brien), Mike Sempert (Birds & Batteries) and Aurielle Zeitler (Chelsea Wolfe), Assembling diverges into jazz (“It’s Okay”), rock (“In the Beginning”), electronica (“You Get to Me”), Beat poetry (“Nighttime”) and folk (“Gone”). Equal parts Neko Case and Kristin Hersh, Gutenberger’s fellow musicians interpret her repeated phrases to arrive at a fleshed-out amalgamation of sound and influence, one that coalesces into its own being. Much like a diamond, Assembling is brilliant due to its flaws.