10 Cent Wings

Jonatha Brooke made her reputation as one half of the Story, a duo whose original folk songs were marked by witty wordplay and sumptuous pop harmonies. After she split with her partner Jennifer Kimball in 1993, Brooke released a solo album (misleadingly credited to "Jonatha Brooke & the Story") that replaced the qualities of her earlier work with a too-bald preachiness. Brooke seems to have learned her lesson, for her followup solo effort, 10 Cent Wings, is filled with the sort of sly phrases and lush pop arrangements that made the Story so enjoyable. At times Brooke stretches her literary conceits too far, but her keyboardist/producer/arranger/husband Alain Mallet always wraps her appealing melodies in quirky, thickened chamber-pop arrangements. On the best songs--most notably "Glass Half Empty" and "Last Innocent Year"--Brooke has recovered the momentum of a most promising career. --Geoffrey Himes