Following two indie smash albums that propelled her to some crossover success, Feist takes a moment to breathe on Metals, an album of contemplative and pretty songs with melodies that sneak up and linger around your skull, rather than hit you over the head with their catchiness. There’s no “1, 2, 3, 4” or anything like that iPod-seller, but it’s nice to be able to hear Feist’s voice, an intoxicatingly beautiful instrument, outside of the occasional preciousness of songs like that. Musically, Metals is grand, full of horns and choral harmonies (“Graveyard”), lo-fi jazz (“How Come You Never Go There”) and lush acoustic ballads (“Cicadas & Gulls”) that allow her voice and songcraft to come through. It’s a confident album with a unified voice, poising Feist as a Joni Mitchell style acoustic singer-songwriter with a full band backing her, rather than a singer aided by production or covers. The power of her conviction can really be felt in “The Undiscovered First,” a blast of rock power in an otherwise mellow album. In Metals’ delicious core, the back-to-back “The Circle Married the Line” and “Bittersweet Melodies,” Feist sounds at home, not morose or childishly giddy, but rather letting her voice carry songs that convey a sense of acceptance in adulthood rarely heard so fluidly — or tastefully.

Also available on CD.