Working alone can be tedious. So you can hardly blame solo musicians for wanting to pull someone else into the studio with them from time to time. On this sixth album (released in April last year in the US), indiepop singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson has ditched her past method – of writing on her own and working with one producer – in favour of a new release stuffed with 10 co-writers and at least five producers. Predictably, it makes for a mixed bag. When it works, Michaelson sounds enchanting, cooing in chromatic, St Vincent-like scales on Handsome Hands. When it doesn’t, she slumps into MOR balladry, as on Ready to Lose and Over You. Michaelson certainly knows how to write a pop hit, as proven by her sappy songs featured on American TV programmes such as Grey’s Anatomy and One Tree Hill. Unfortunately, she loses her way slightly here, letting overused chord progressions and sweet but uninspired melodies overpower her indie quirk.
