Feist

“I feel it all,” Leslie Feist sings on a song of the same name, and it’s like, “Really? All of it?” That’s a lot for one lil’ album to live up to. But she feels a lot, anyway, if “it” is love and nostalgia. This second proper album from Feist compares favorably to the effortless torch-song/folk-pop of her debut. Feist’s knack for catchy melodies carries that song and most of the others, even as the record takes its stylistic twists and turns from ’70s balladry to pseudo-gospel to indie rock straight outta Cat Power’s back catalogue. And her voice is versatile—powerful and sure on “The Limit to Your Love,” gentle and shy on “1234,” the album’s standout sing-along. The a cappella intro to “Brady Alexander” makes perfect sense: This is a vocal album that happens to have instruments on it.