[music] RACHEL STEVENS - Come And Get It

Everything that comes out of my computer's speakers right now sounds like it was recorded on John Darnielle's boombox-- hissy, and with some kind of compression effect turning the highest and lowest tones into warm static. This isn't intentional, but I've been told that my office is replacing this computer soon, so I'm living with it. I'm almost scared to find out how this record sounds when played correctly; with my misbehaving computer reinventing it, it seems to be a colossal dance-pop album, mostly unmarred by ballads. Even figuring that Stevens' voice is meant to be more conventionally pretty, I suspect this is better than, say, that last Kylie album.

I came to it with no context at all (someone said, "Hey, you have to hear this!"); apparently Stevens used to be in a pre-fab British band enigmatically named "S Club 7". I mean, the Internet would probably tell me where the name comes from, but I prefer to assume that, like the "Q Mart F" on Highland Ave, it is an alien plot.

[Out in the UK October 10.]