Soak

It's kind of cheating to call Mimi Goese (pronounced like Gacey) new, since she fronted the cult 80s art-rock force Hugo Largo. But Soak, her arresting Luaka Bop/Warner Brothers debut under the solitary name Mimi, is a bold new start for her in a post-trip-hop era that can better appreciate her experimental songs.

On the album's first track, 'Piece of Cake,' Goese sings of feeling like 'both the tortoise and the hare' and the record plays that contrast out. Her voice leaps and lurches in the most graceful, acrobatic way.

Some songs hit like quick, darting bursts. Others come on slowly, methodically, like a masseur kneading your skin.

For a frame of reference, think of the freewheeling experimentalism of Bjork, who came on the scene long after Goese. Soak should bring Goese the audience she deserved back when she began. -New York Post