POP
CATHY DAVEY
Taste of Silversleeve (Regal)
***
Ireland already loves Cathy Davey, sending this, her second album, to platinum status over there. However, any buzz seems to have drowned while crossing the Irish Sea. That's a shame, as few others are making acoustic pop to such a high standard. Davey's soft, little-girl voice can seem underwhelming, but here she underpins it with a powerful bass groove on Moving, or thumps a piano on the catchy standout Reuben. Her sweet exterior conceals a sinister side too — the jaunty strum of The Collector features murder ballad lyrics that give it a black dimension. The Irish are right on this one.
DAVID SMYTH

AIMEE MANN
@%&*! Smilers (Superego)
****
Since 1993's glorious Whatever fell by the wayside as her label collapsed, Aimee Mann's career has stumbled. Now approaching 50, Sean Penn's sister-in-law has taken the independent road and retreated to her strengths — melodically rich songs, populated by weary characters whom life has treated with disdain, all sung in an extraordinarily sympathetic voice. It's her best work since Whatever. The divine opener, Freeway, is a melancholic driving song with a huge chorus and Borrowing Time is that rarest of things, a hushed stomper. Music for grown-ups.
JOHN AIZLEWOOD

SOLOMON BURKE
Like a Fire (Pinnacle)
***
During a remarkably productive life — 34 albums and 21 children so far — Solomon Burke has never achieved the status of household name. His best known song is Cry to Me and that achieved its widest reception on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. Like A Fire is an attempt, aided by famous friends, to make a name for Mr Burke. The title track was written by Eric Clapton and is entirely consistent with his oeuvre. Elsewhere there are country ballads, soul tunes and even a cover of the venerable If I Give My Heart to You. It is all mighty pleasant, but it's not going to make the big man a star.
PETE CLARK

JAZZ
CASSANDRA WILSON
Loverly (Blue Note)
***
What's this, Cassandra Wilson doing a standards album? Well yes, but fans of the sultry Deep-South siren needn't worry. This is no commercial cop-out. Chestnuts like Caravan, Sleepin' Bee and Wouldn't It Be Loverly get the same mystical, deep-blue, sleepy-voiced contralto that she applies to St James Infirmary and Dust My Broom, two redeeming tracks from her core repertoire. The rhythmic updates are substantial too, but pianist Jason Moran and guitarist Marvin Sewell don't blend all that comfortably. The star rating would be higher if they sounded as natural with the material as she does.
JACK MASSARIK

WORLD
DENGUE FEVER
Venus on Earth (Real World)
****
Dengue Fever are, in short, the leading American-Cambodian pop band. Californian brothers Zac and Ethan Holtzman became fascinated by 1960s Cambodian pop and joined up with Long Beach-based Cambodian vocalist Chhom Nimol. It's a heady South-East Asian mix. Alongside Cambodian covers like the dreamy Monsoon of Perfume, Dengue Fever have added a bunch of their own songs like Tiger Phone Card about a long-distance romance. They may be named after a nasty disease but their music is worth catching — at festivals including Glastonbury and WOMAD this summer.
SIMON BROUGHTON