Sara Bareilles, "Kaleidoscope Heart" (Epic) Heartache is no match for show-tune pizazz on Bareilles' second CD. Deliberately or not, she has figured out a singer-songwriter's response to the ascendance of "Glee." The biggest shift between 2007's "Little Voice" and the new disc is that Bareilles often multiplies her vocals, becoming her own glee club. Her voice bounces all around on the post-breakup, modernized doo-wop "Gonna Get Over You." Sass and vocal Ping-Pong also drive "King of Anything," and she becomes a one-woman girl group in "Say You're Sorry" and "Not Alone."
When Bareilles goes for more straightforward tugs on the heartstrings, she often sounds like Sarah McLachlan's gifted apprentice. The clichés come out in "Breathe Again," "Hold My Heart," "Bluebird" and "Let the Rain." The love songs and goodbye songs are perfectly professional, ready for soundtrack placements.
Bareilles performs Nov. 2 at the Pantages Theatre.
JON PARELES, NEW YORK TIMES
Interpol, "Interpol" (Matador/Soft Limit)
Interpol returns after three years with its fourth album. On its 2002 debut, the New York City quartet made an instant impact by overlapping baritone-voiced cool, jagged guitars, elastic bass lines and a penchant for sudden, tension-busting choruses. Since then the songs have lost some snap, but the band sounds terrific. The songs trace the arc of an unraveling relationship. Singer Paul Banks turns cutting phrases, bringing dark humor to a somber cycle of soul-purging. "Lights" presents an excellent summation of Interpol's ability to deliver slow-burn payoff. Unfortunately, nothing else on the album approaches that level of structured brilliance.
GREG KOT, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
