...Little Broken Hearts

When Norah Jones began covering Wilco’s “Jesus, Etc.” live, it was a signpost: just as “America’s greatest band” has transformed from alternative country heroes to renowned rock experimentalists, so too has the singer/songwriter morphed from piano-based acoustic jazz/folk crooner to guitar-playing alternative pop vocalist. On her fifth album, she cowrote songs with Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton, who produced the sessions at his Los Angeles studio. Having first worked together on Rome (his and Daniele Luppi’s ode to Italian cinematic music), Jones and Burton recorded all the vocal and instrumental tracks themselves before bringing in supplemental musicians like drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, Air) and Sonus Quartet. From the hypnotically unsettling “Good Morning” to the plaintive single “Happy Pills” and the blissfully hazy “All a Dream,” Little Broken Hearts is a new type of chillout album for an artist previously known for her warm, comforting sounds.