It shouldn’t be allowed to go any further, and yet here’s Alice Russell and her new album, “Pot of Gold” (Little Poppet/Six Degrees). The strong recent Grammy showing by Adele, Duffy and Leona Lewis 10 nominations between them, including one apiece for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance reaffirmed the era of the British Soul Siren. Its rewards will be obvious to anyone who savors the feel of an ensemble finding complicated footing under pressure. This is an album of rough texture, unstable rhythm, deep intuition and minimal ego. Iverson produce some dazzling sparks and there are moments of extraordinary sensitivity. But felicitous grace has a part to play here too the frictions between Mr. On “Duck,” a digital release available at, they improvise three long pieces, packing each with menace and suspense. This abstract-expressionist combo consists of the alto saxophonist Tim Berne, the cellist Hank Roberts, the pianist Ethan Iverson and the drummer David King. “I’ve carried the tears you’ve cried.” He sounds like he means it, but then he always does. 1, and explores the same idea in a more personal vein. (It’s no accident that he performed the song during at least one campaign rally for Barack Obama last month.) Then there’s “My Lucky Day,” which went on sale for one week beginning Dec. Springsteen assumes the voice of an honest striver redeemed by love and hard work: there are ladders and hammers in his telling, along with the break of a new day. On the title track, available through iTunes, Mr.
The difference, then, lies in the tone: more hopeful, less bleak. His next album “Working on a Dream,” due out on Columbia in January seems likely to pursue a similarly radiant sound, judging by a pair of singles made available in recent weeks. For his most recent album, “Magic,” Bruce Springsteen paired the jangle and gleam of a bygone pop era with a new roil of troubling visions.
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