Half-Lit Houses

""I am the only one in the car/ without a baby. I can say this/ in seven dialects."" Such are the full-formed thoughts emerging from Half-Lit Houses by Tina Chang. In 40-plus lyrics, Chang channels historical settings (mostly varying provinces in '30s and '40s China) and limns an identity marked by ""life broken down by the sallow tongue and feverish saliva,/ the salt and sauce defeating you.""