
A less rhythmic, equally emotive take on Arthur Russell's Close My Eyes suggests that were the late, great Russell still living and breathing his harmonious exhalations would be wondrously suited to Arnalds' seraphic coo, while a gorgeously fluent medley comprised of the surreal acoustica of Gene Clark's With Tomorrow and the understated Springsteen anthemia of I'm On Fire is sewn together with the care of a thick-fingered, staunchly meticulous seamstress. A sprightly interpretation of Dylan's She Belongs To Me is impeccably delivered, more so than its rasped and wheezed original, and coaxes a delightful sincerity from the lyrics, probity once shrouded by Dylan's impenetrable caw. Maria Bethânia meanwhile sounds like an intelligible, rust-chested robin chirping material from Joanna Newsom's The Milk-Eyed Mender, a far warble from Caetano Veloso's sultrily glam, early '70s original. At a meagre five tracks long (inadequate of course in quantity, and not quality) you're left cheeping for more from the Nordic songbird.



