Keren Ann-6 CDs (French-Israeli folky singer/female vocals), see description for titles

One listen to this disc tells you the "goods" are here. Describing Keren Ann (Zeidel) is difficult: This feels almost like a good movie soundtrack in that each cut has a different sound and feel but it still all coheres into a nice whole. "Not Going Anywhere" sounds Nick Drake-ish. "Sailor and Widow" sounds like Suzanne Vega on the verses, Aimee Mann on the choruses. "Right Now and Right Here" has the lilt of a musicbox melody with words added to it. "Seventeen" could be a Disney outtake.

This is Keren Ann's 1st release in English. (Previous albums have her singing in French.) Vocally, if I have to compare her, I'd think about Nina Persson (Lead singer for Swedish pop outfit The Cardigans) crossed with Suzanne Vega. With the right promotional "push" she could really be big.

HIGHLIGHTS:
The wispy cadences of the title track let you know you're in for a wonderful ride here as she proclaims "This is why I always wonder/I'm a pond full of regrets/I always try to not remember/rather than forget") "By the Cathedral" is enigmatic. It paints a beautiful word picture but leaves you wondering what exactly DIDN'T happen (the chorus is "I wasn't able/I was unable") there. "Polly" seems to be a tender ode to a daughter who died young. ("There were so many ways to hide/in the hours of waste/And I will be/more than it takes/to you") "End of May" is a spine-tingling mixture of beautiful (the delicate tinkling keyboard part) and eerie (the children's choral and Ann's own voice) ending in an ethereal acappella coda. "Sailor and Widow" combines staccato nearly limerick style singing on the verses into the charging pop hook ("all the children played/around the neighborhood..") It's a tale of a woman who kills her husband by torching her houses with them inside, once again combining the lethal and the sublime.

BOTTOM LINE:
Safe to say if you're locked into a single genre collection, this probably won't be for you. If you're not in that category, give this a listen or borrow it from your library if they have it. She's so good I can't believe she's so unknown in the U.S. still. In fact, I considered giving this 5 stars but I don't like to do that until I've "lived with" a CD for a long time. Suffice to say, I'm giving this a hearty recommendation. (Amazon Review of 'Not Going Anywhere'

YouTube Sample-'End of May'