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Hear Me Out: Whitney Houston looks to us, A Fine Frenzy blows up

Chris Azzopardi

Whitney Houston, 'I Look to You'

Who won't always love Whitney Houston for her sky-reaching vocal bombast – the kind that could rip through a song like a chainsaw cutting into a tree trunk? That rafters-climbing belting that marked the glorious highs of her pre-"crack-is-whack" career, before the lows – a reality show, drugs and Bobby Brown – derailed it, is MIA on her comeback LP, her first in seven years. Boisterous booty-bumpers like "Million Dollar Bill," a fun '70s throwback, and "A Song for You," a dance misfire, help hide the sad fact that Houston's voice is sand-papered down, the crisp purity of her '80s instrument replaced by a coarse rasp. And not once does she even try to ignite a fountain of vocal pyrotechnics, which is what you'd expect – and never get – from a soulful lead single like "I Look to You," a redemptive riff on finding hope in something – be it in God or her gays. Anything but coke, let's hope. "I Didn't Know My Own Strength," about being unbreakable, is the only other piano ballad. Both help recoup Houston's nearly-shot reputation, and even if the voice isn't quite the voice anymore, she sings from the heart, letting us feel – without giving the nitty-gritty details – what it's like to find your way back from hell. Maybe we should be looking to her.

Grade: B-

A Fine Frenzy, 'Bomb in a Birdcage'

"Stood Up," the penultimate grandiose-sounding queer fight-song on Alison Sodul's sophomore set, never bluntly declares that it's for gay rights, but lyrics like "they sunk every ship we sank/but we stood up" seem a little too well-timed not to be. And after touring with Rufus Wainwright, we already know Sodul, who performs as A Fine Frenzy, is gay-friendly – and a cute, talented, ethereally voiced pianist and literary-driven writer. If her quiet debut, "One Cell in the Sea," was a caterpillar, its follow-up is the butterfly – beautiful, and swifter than its lulling, teen-show-friendly predecessor (her voice even flutters on "Blow Away"). The sweetly lovelorn guitar-driven "What I Wouldn't Do," spanked with percussion, launches an experimental bunch: "New Heights," a euphoric Coldplay-like quencher; "Electric Twist," a neat '80s-tinged electro cut with a Regina Spektor-inspired yelp, and the catchy split-up song "Happier." Tracks in the middle are growers. "Elements" has a pretty melody that builds with crashing drums and "Bird of the Summer" employs a summery, flute-sweetened vibe. The closest she comes to sounds of "Cell" is during the album's delicate closer, "The Beacon" – a lovely piano-led lullaby where she helps a suicidal friend find the light because, based on this album's bright shine, Sodul's already found hers.

Grade: B+

Also Out

Kate Earl, 'Kate Earl'

This Alaskan chanteuse just wrote the theme song to every music lover's life: "Melody," a delicious little neo-soul charmer that's easily one of the happiest – and best – singles this year. Nothing on her self-titled major label debut quite reaches that level of grandeur, but a lot of the peppier Dido-like pop – especially the cute sing-along love song "Everlasting" – comes close. On "All I Want" she'd like to reach just one person. Maybe she's underestimating herself.

Sarah Bettens, 'Never Say Goodbye'

The achy-voiced alt-rock artist's first album from her own international label, Cocoon Records, is a folk and jazz collection of new songs, favorites from her last two solo LPs and covers. As painfully stunning as her take on Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" is, it's almost a note-for-note copycat. But "Slow You Down," a stripped-down heartbreaker, might make you love her.

Imogen Heap, 'Ellipse'

That this androgynous-voiced trendsetter's third album begins with some of her best futuristic work is almost damaging to the rest of the disc, which starts to sound like snoozy elevator music. The quirky laptop-made noises she tinkers with makes for mysterious, moody musical landscapes, like the yearning "First Train Home" or the piercing patchwork of "Canvas," but there's a flighty, where-is-this-going? way about some of the others. Hide and seek, indeed.

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