Nellie McKay is all over the place — wonderfully so. Whether she's delivering social commentary while strumming a ukulele in "Adios," exorcising the spirit of a devilish former lover over a festive bed of New Orleans jazz in "Dispossessed" or setting vegetarian activism to "Unknown Reggae," this mercurial New York singer-songwriter brings both ample wit and equally generous melodies. Partially recorded in Jamaica, McKay's fifth album fortifies her rhythms with reggae syncopations and naturalizes her sound with a live-in-the-studio ebullience that smartly showcases her thespian chops. A sweet, female version of Randy Newman who hearkens back to pre-rock cabaret days without getting the slightest bit nostalgic, McKay is the sophisticated minstrel your granddaddy thinks they stopped making years ago.

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“Youth Knows No Pain”

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”