POP/ROCK
Anjulie, "Anjulie" (Hear Music)
As Santigold rip-offs go, "Boom," the debut single by Anjulie, is among the cleverest. Apart from the drums, all the other instruments -- the flatulent junkyard brass, the bone-dry Morricone guitars -- are obfuscated, floating through haze. On top, Anjulie coos coyly about giving in when really she should know better. And the faintly Caribbean chorus echoes a skipping heartbeat, a theme woven into the song's lyrics.
But unlike Santigold, who occasionally forgets to ground her excursions in song craft, Anjulie isn't eccentric in the least. She has an unapologetic pop ear, an intuitive gift for melody and a voice that, while not rich or deep, eases into long sighs, syllables melting into one another so that entire lines can seem like one long, fluctuating note.
All together it makes for an often-sumptuous debut of lithe, modern coffeehouse soul that smartly avoids the bohemian. The Lisa Stansfield-esque "Some Dumb Girl" splits the difference between Muscle Shoals and acid jazz. "The Heat" and "Same Damn Thing" are lightly drizzled with calypso and reggae. And "Love Songs" could have been a Neil Diamond number.
"Crazy That Way" has the most conventional beginning of the songs here, with just a piano and a confession. But then come the strings, and after that the multitracked vocals. Soon the mood is acoustic Michael Jackson as filtered through Ne-Yo, a hint of how the next generation of singer/songwriters is coming of age.
JON CARAMANICA, NEW YORK TIMES
COUNTRY
Gloriana, "Gloriana" (Warner Bros.)
On the debut album from this young country quartet, there's a real affection for the gender-war harmonies of Fleetwood Mac and the open-road earnestness of John Mellencamp. That these kids would turn so deeply to their parents' vinyl collection says a lot about their ambitions for a country-pop crossover.
