The Anti-Diva: I've got a new CD from Norah Jones. She has an amazing voice, soft and jazzy. This is a quiet CD of slow tempo, but not depressing, acoustic pop songs. She has a great voice for jazz and it works well with about half the songs. Oddly, she also covers some fairly straightforward country ballads that seem a bit out of place. But for the most part these are nice, well-written pop songs, sung with a bit of a warm, jazzy feel. All in all, a good chill-out CD.

This is not the kind of music I usually listen to but it's nice to listen to a female singer who has some setting other than Loud, Really Loud, and Deafening. It's nice to hear a singer who can express emotions without shrieking and wavering every other syllable like a braying donkey. It's nice to hear music that's memorable because of the quality of the songs and production, instead of because Clear Channel bludgeons it into your head by doubling it's rotation on every radio station in the world.

Anyway, Norah has been living the CD player in my car and singing to me while I drive. Ain't that sweet of her?