POP
PJ Harvey & John Parish
A Woman a Man Walked By (Island)
**
I've got a lot of time for PJ Harvey, but not this record — a collaboration with her producer John Parish. The opening Black Hearted Love is a riff-driven rocker with all the ominous portent of a storm warning, but after that, Polly gives up on the simple art of singing. Instead, she indulges in mewling, whining, little-girl-lost vocal exercises which, I suppose, are the only possible response to a set of songs, composed by Parish, all with one thing in common: a wilful disregard for a proper tune. Harvey says the pair won't be making another record for a long time. Absolutely fine by me.
PETE CLARK

The Whitest Boy Alive
Rules (Bubbles)
***
With Kings of Convenience, Norway's kings of minimalist pop, taking an extended hiatus, leader Erlend Øye is concentrating on his other group, The Whitest Boy Alive. On this second album they're moving away from the electronica that coursed through their debut, Dreams, towards, of all things, gentle bossa nova infused with chamber-pop. Surprisingly they don't fall on their faces. Øye's curiously affecting, aloof voice works especially well set against the summery nature of the tunes, most notably on the finger-clicking Keep A Secret and 1517. You don't trust Øye's sincerity, but you do his craft.
JOHN AIZLEWOOD

Peter Bjorn And John
Living Thing (Wichita)
**
This long-running Stockholm trio first popped above the parapet in 2006 with their song Young Folks, a whistling novelty now so mainstream that it's on a Homebase advert. While their fifth album has its moments, its frequent obtuseness seems custom-made to alienate anyone considering becoming a long-term fan. Whimsy is still the favoured mode of expression, as with the kids' choir and hip-hop beats of Nothing to Worry About. The funky piano and handclaps of It Don't Move Me might make for another hit, but too many songs meander at half-speed without really going anywhere interesting.
DAVID SMYTH

JAZZ
Ida Sand
True Love (ACT)
***
With her long auburn hair, big brown eyes and vocal hints of Nina Simone and even Stevie Wonder, this sensual Swedish diva discombobulates the usual Scandinavian cool in sight and sound. Her grown-up love songs (Notice Me, Devil's Game and the title track) have a white-soul warmth to match her bluesy piano work. The hip group behind her adds appropriate guitar smears to post-Broadway classics by Neil Young, Bob Marley, Allen Toussaint and Jimi Hendrix, while Lover Man, just for voice, piano and Peter Asplund's furry flugelhorn, takes Ida back to basics. She grows on you.
JACK MASSARIK

WORLD
Soname
Plateau (World Village)
***
Soname is probably better known as the author of Child of Tibet, her best-selling autobiography that tells the dramatic story of her escape across the Himalayas into India. But, as this album shows, she is also a songwriter with a distinctive voice. Soname is brilliantly accompanied by Tanmoy Bose on tabla and a light sprinkling of other instruments. Fifty years after the Chinese occupation, she sings about wanting to return to her homeland “if not in this life, may I be born time after time in a land filled with flourishing dharma”. It's a heartfelt message. She performs live at the Union Chapel tomorrow.
SIMON BROUGHTON