Kathleen Edwards setting out for new territory It's a little amusing that an album whose title and thematic concerns take up various forms of departure - geographical, emotional, and romantic - begins with a song about a quintessentially Canadian version of staying put. "I'm moving to America,'' Kathleen Edwards sings, then immediately undercuts the claim: "It's an empty threat.'' As it happens, though, in her case the threat has not been an empty one; if she hasn't left Canada (yet), she's been spending a lot of time over the border in the company of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, who is not only her new beau but also the principal among several collaborators on "Voyageur,'' serving as coproducer and singing and playing throughout. One of the things that Vernon helped facilitate was Edwards's express desire to go to new places, sonically speaking, on her new record. The changes that ensued are not full-blown; there's still plenty of loping twang ("Empty Threat''), guitar crunch ("Mint''), and hushed Americana ("House Full of Empty Rooms''). But as the gorgeous swells and noisy builds of "A Soft Place to Land,'' the electronic blurts and squawks running through "Sidecar,'' and the urgent, swirling pop of "Change the Sheets'' make manifest, Edwards succeeds in stepping out of the Americana territory where her first three records resided. Sturart Munro The Boston Globe				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews