Indie/alternative artists that keep things simple

I'm hoping that someone can point me toward some new music in a style that's somewhat hard for me to describe.

So, over the past few months I've found myself coming back to a dozen or so albums that seem to have very little in common with each other. I think what draws me back to these albums is the simplicity of the artist's approach and the quality of the storytelling that's in the songs. They're also "complete" albums in the sense that the quality is high across all the songs, with no real throw-away songs included.

Here are a few of those albums that seem to stay in regular rotation for me, in no particular order:

Case, Neko. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Anti, 2005.

Costello, Elvis & Burt Bacharach. Painted From Memory. Mercury, 1998.

Cray, Robert. Sweet Potato Pie. Mercury, 1997.

Lang, KD. Hymns Of The 49th Parallel. Nonesuch, 2004.

Orton, Beth. Comfort of Strangers. Astralwerks/EMI, 2006.

Shins, The. Chutes Too Narrow. Sub Pop, 2003.

Young, Neil. Silver and Gold. Reprise/Time Warner, 2000.

I know that not all of these artists should be considered "indie" or "alternative" but there seems to be a lack of commercialism in these albums as well.

Can anyone suggest some other "alternative" albums that you feel the same way about?

thanks in advance for your help.
e