Without the spooky dynamics of her now-extinct band Throwing Muses, Kristin Hersh sounded like a dour one-trick pony on her 1994 solo debut, Hips and Makers. Like that release, Strange Angels is an acoustic affair, with touches of keyboard and percussion fleshing out the singer's dusky voice and guitar picking. This time, however, she has made an album that should reward more than just her devoted cult.

Strange Angels is in many ways vintage Hersh, full of mood-swing intensity and dreamy reveries. But in the past she treated pop hooks as a luxury her introspective songs could little afford. On Strange Angels, the arrangements are even sparser than on Hips and Makers, but the melodies are more developed. They work their way under the skin, and sometimes – as on the swooning "Like You" and the disquieting "Gazebo Tree" – they pierce the heart. (RS 782)

GREG KOT