
The first song on Miwa Gemini 's new record, "Picnic," is a somewhat creepy song that brings to mind Tom Waits (but with a better singer) and Bjork (but with more linear songwriting). After all that quiet longing, the record transports us to barroom blues/country, with "Traveling Man" ("My man's a traveling man/He don't tell me where he's been/But it's not hard to find out where he's been/He leaves a trail of broken hearts"). Right after that comes "Something Ordinary:" A sad, old-style ballad. And I'm thinking, "Who is this chick?" Miwa is a [...]