JR is one hard-working woman. Her first self-released album has thousands of fans, she's a self-taught musician, and she never seems to make easy choices when it comes to her sometimes bewitching songs. She pretty much takes the high road and makes it look easy, especially when it comes to the sounds themselves, which are possessed of an unnatural grace. She also pretty much does what she wants.

But don't let opener "Troubled Soul" fool you with its intro-by-way-of-Kansas-indie or cabaret-punk aspirations: JR is not out to ape the Starlight Mints or the Dresden Dolls. These affectations are almost a clearing of the throat as JR prepares to strip off (supposedly) inessential counterpoints to her moody piano and syrupy strings. Which reminds me, if you don't enjoy moody piano and syrupy strings, this is not for you.

Because the remainder of the album is given over to a kind of Andrew Lloyd Webber melodrama that grows stale quickly for someone not enamored of that approach. To her credit, JR has a fantastic, versatile voice, with traces of soul and R&B savoir faire that one wishes she'd exploit. The vocals' main job is to keep her gushing and overly pretty but occasionally aimless instrumentation afloat: the formula is hit-and-miss. But she is almost always better against more complex textures—the pizzicato of "She Whispers" or the jazz-trio snare-brushing of "Stranger"—than on her own. She should have no trouble finding a band willing to group together around those formidable pipes.