Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt were tykes in 1964, when Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto set the world swaying with "The Girl From Ipanema." By 1984, the two Brits, barely out of their teens, had released their first album as Everything but the Girl, fashioning heartfelt and troubled – if somewhat naive – love songs inspired by Getz's bossa nova and other breezy Sixties pop. Now Thorn and Watt have made their first grown-up album – with Getz himself lending a hand on an exquisitely crafted work of intelligent jazz-inflected pop.

Everything but the Girl may have pointed the way for Sade, Basia and Swing Out Sister, but the group's early albums were too quirky to attract more than a cult following in America. The Language of Life may alter that. With the help of veteran producer Tommy Li-Puma, Thorn and Watt have maintained the emotional directness of their songs while shaping a more sophisticated musical package. The production may initially put off some of the duo's longtime fans, but beneath the glittering surface lies some of their strongest songwriting yet.

Thorn emerges as a singer to be reckoned with; her assured vocals soar over the orchestrations, then coast down for a breathy intimacy. Behind her stands a stylish crew of contempo jazzers, from drummer Omar Hakim to saxophonists Kirk Whalum and Michael Brecker, all smooth as rayon. When guitarist Michael Landau tosses off a Bensonish guitar hook on the irresistible "Get Back Together" as Watt and Thorn scat, it sounds like a hit – and it sounds like Watt and Thorn are finally realizing the kind of pop they've toyed with since their debut.

If Thorn seems too glib and detached at times and if the album's overall sound seems too slick, there's plenty of heart-to-heart communication to make up for it, from the bittersweet love song "Meet Me in the Morning" to the album's closing track, "The Road," in which Getz's tender sax winds around a yearning Watt vocal. With the blessing of the dean of jazz pop, Watt and Thorn talk straight from the soul on The Language of Life. (RS 582-583)

WIF STENGER