Norah Jones - Feels Like Home

It may be a languid sonic souffle of country, blues, folk and yes, jazz filtered flavours, yet it's no mere Come Away with Me revisited either.

It's always going to be easy to dismiss Norah's signature sultry vocal intimacy as some kind of stylised smooth jazz excursion in supper-club mood muzak. But the uncomplicated acoustic collage she sketches with her Handsome Band is never as superficially whimsical as any casual listen might suggest. For every light country massage ("In the Morning", "Toes") there's a yearning postcard from a long distance lover ("What Am I to You?"), a shimmering hand-held sigh ("Those Sweet Words") or pensive honky tonk piano ballad ("Carnival Town").

Sure, some purists are going to gripe about Norah translating Tom Waits' gritty "The Long Way Home" into a lilting western weepy. But her impressionist interpretation of cult-country outlaw Townes van Zandt's "Be Here to Love Me" and breezy bluegrass romp with Dolly Parton on "Creepin' In" proves she's blessed with some seriously authentic country chops. While her meditative reading of Duke Ellington's "Melancholia" (re-fashioned as "Don't Miss You At All") makes for breathtakingly alluring late night listening.

Miles Keylock