Titles & Idols [Audio CD] Hirsch, Beth

Titles & Idols, the second album from Best Hirsch, best known for her collaborations with Air, particularly "All I Need" on 1997s Moon Safari. Her vocal stylisations provoke an inevitable and not unreasonable volley of comparisons with Joni Mitchell. Where Mitchell's best work, however, is lyrically scenic, taking you on a twisting and turning journey, Hirsch tends to ape some of her narrative tics, on tracks like "Captain Daylight" without the same density of verbal detail. What Hirsch does induce is a sort of pleasant, mellow, confectionary torpor. Best here are "Let It Live", with its liquid suspension of keyboards and the title track, with its gentle lattices of rhythm simmering in the background, while "Nigel & Fiona" is among her more dramatic and involving songs. "I Know Why" and "Ordinary Life" benefit from the discreet addition of some bleeps and boosts from the Black Dog production team. Like Beth Orton and Dido, Hirsch exists on the periphery of the dance scene, making electro-folksy music for frazzled clubbers to chill to. --David Stubbs