Three years ago, Canadian Leslie Feist broke through with her debut, an eclectic record that dipped into indie disco and Euro pop but had enough sweet, chanteuse-y moments to earn Norah Jones comparisons. On The Reminder, Feist digs a little deeper: Less eclectic but more impressive, the album finds her working up abundant beauty and warm, ruminative singing on jazz- and folk-tinged songs. Cuts like "1 2 3 4" and the rather gorgeous "I Feel It All" are both memorable and resonant, and on the standout "My Moon My Man," she sounds sharp, sassy and smitten alongside a seductive, jazzy shuffle. Feist seems like a big fan of her own voice, and it's hard to blame her: She's got a sweet, throaty croon capable of great tenderness and supple adornments. But several tracks sound like they're more about singing than songs, and tedium creeps in on slow ones such as "The Water" and "Honey Honey," a minimalist, arty thing that sounds like bad Joanna Newsom. Too bad: Replace the sleepy stuff with more songs like "My Moon," and The Reminder would have been killer.

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.