RECORD RACK : Mayer’s mood shifts

John Mayer

“Battle Studies”

Columbia

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On the high-contrast black-and-white cover photo of John Mayer’s latest studio album, the singer, songwriter and guitarist’s hands are pulling at the collar of a thick winter coat. It seems as though he’s trying to brace against the onset of frosty conditions; the overall effect is fairly Morrissey-esque.

That’s no coincidence -- in themes and tone, Mayer shows a lot in common with the great romantic fatalist of ‘80s Brit pop: He’s “Perfectly Lonely” in the song with that title, and he opens the collection with “Heartbreak Warfare,” about the ways we hurt the ones we ostensibly love.

Musically, he’s exploring the moody territory of acts such as Coldplay and Snow Patrol; at the same time, he displays his debt to guitar heroes including David Gilmour, Eric Clapton and George Harrison.

For the most part, he expresses himself more eloquently through his guitar than his lyrics in the 10 of 11 songs he wrote. (Intriguingly, his version of Robert Johnson’s blues classic “Crossroads” puts Clapton’s signature blues-rock riff through effects processing that leaves it sounding like a keyboard.)

Why he decided to ape Dave Mathews in “Who Says,” his ode to the benefits of escapism during down times, is anybody’s guess, but it’s set to a lovely country-rock shuffle. “Assassin” stretches the metaphor of a stealth killer too far, while “War of My Life” sets foot on U2’s turf -- without the soul-deep passion of the Irish rockers. That deficit leaves many of the songs strangely uninvolving, despite the beauty of his melodies and the empathetic production he and drummer Steve Jordan have given them.

The lesson of “Battle Studies”? If you’re heading to war or in to love, better to take no prisoners.

-- Randy Lewis

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‘Idol’ winner with not much to show

Kris Allen

“Kris Allen”

19/Jive

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Kris Allen finished in first place on the most recent season of “American Idol,” but did he really win? If this fresh-faced Arkansan had been cut from the show a few weeks earlier than he was, it’s easy to imagine his post-”Idol” debut delighting his loyal fans, many of whom would’ve been perfectly happy with -- horror of horrors -- an entire album of Fray covers.

Instead, in an incident that might someday inspire a probing investigative report on VH1, Allen somehow earned more votes than Adam Lambert, the single most compelling contestant in “Idol’s” eight-season history. So now Allen’s album arrives freighted with expectations, very few of which it’s in a position to meet.

Coming from an unknown singer-songwriter type, “Kris Allen” might get over on its earnest charm; as the major-label bow from one of America’s highest-profile pop stars, it’s a snooze and a half.

Not surprisingly, given the caliber of songwriters and producers the “Idol” franchise attracts, there are highlights: “Before We Come Undone” rides a zippy electro-rock groove by Greg Kurstin of the Bird and the Bee, while the Mike Elizondo-helmed “Can’t Stay Away” throbs like a not-bad Maroon 5 outtake. Allen co-wrote “Alright With Me” with Joe King of the Fray, and, believe it or not, it’s actually the liveliest thing here, an up-tempo acoustic shuffle with a sort of low-cal “Hey Ya!” vibe.

Most of the material, though, tends toward a flavorless pop-rock sound that doesn’t even do much to flatter Allen’s appealingly rumpled vocals. Maybe next time he’ll adopt a pseudonym?

-- Mikael Wood

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Throwing some heat on slow burn

Norah Jones

“The Fall”

Blue Note

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Though Norah Jones sings that “My mind’s racing,” you wouldn’t know that that’s a problem on her fourth studio album, “The Fall.” Pacing always has been an issue for Jones. Though her 2007 album “Not Too Late” was peppered with some uncharacteristically tart socio-political commentary, her perpetually languid vocal style and unhurried arrangements suggested that she was contemplating nothing more strenuous than finding the correct position on her couch for a late-afternoon nap.

Her self-effacing musical disposition has its merits: Her light, subtle touch is a rarity in the boom-bap-bling world of pop. It was alluring enough to turn her 2002 debut, “Come Away With Me,” into a runaway success. But two albums later, Jones correctly sensed staleness settling in and shuffled her collaborators for “The Fall.”

Most of the songs are built on her guitar rather than piano, she adds Ryan Adams and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff to her songwriting team, and new producer Jacquire King (who has worked with Tom Waits, Kings of Leon and Modest Mouse) brings a slightly more adventurous rhythmic tack. At times, Jones sings over a bed of noise -- gentle, undulating and amorphous, but noise nonetheless.

Those production effects add a thin layer of tension, a mild case of vertigo as the singer goes (gently) round and round pondering the unanswerable: “When will I ever learn?” “Why can’t you believe/How much you really mean?” A handful of songs, particularly the frisky “It’s Gonna Be” and the neo-psychedelic soul ballad “You’ve Ruined Me,” suggest she’s on to something fresh and potentially exciting.

But conservatism wins out, and “The Fall” is ultimately a mildly more adventurous art-pop take on her piano-based cabaret style. Here’s hoping she follows all the way through on the makeover she begins here for her next album.

-- Greg Kot

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Kid Sister’s debut all grown up

Kid Sister

Ultraviolet

Downtown Music

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Chicago’s hip-hop newcomer Kid Sister likes to talk up her girl-next-door appeal in interviews. While it’s a safe bet that your neighbor isn’t pals with Kanye West -- his DJ A-trak is Kid Sister’s go-to producer -- “Ultraviolet” is brimming with the artist’s down-to-earth candidness.

Kid Sister’s a two-time veteran of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and her long-awaited debut is, first and foremost, an upbeat and futuristic club record. It also showcases her Midwestern work ethic and sense of humor. Over the ambient, Tangerine Dream-sampling “Let Me Bang,” she’s doing her laundry before hitting the dance floor, where she declares that she likes “to do it nice and slow.” But don’t get any ideas. “By that I mean my flow,” she clarifies.

Influenced by the fast beats and electronic soul of Chicago house music, “Ultraviolet” owns a roll-up-your-sleeves form of empowerment, where respect is earned rather than awarded on sex appeal. The zippy effects on “Pro Nails” capture the anticipation of a deserved night out, and on the snappy “Step” she’s laughing at her drink-buying suitors, wondering, “How far anybody really made it with a sex up on the beach?”

With Southern soul rapper Cee-Lo at her side on “Daydreaming,” she escapes into a psychedelic, synthesized orchestra. “I want to let you know the meaning of forever,” she formidably sings. By that point, it’s hard to imagine anyone telling her no.

-- Todd Martens

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Timbaland tricks up their sleeves

OneRepublic

“Waking Up”

Mosley Music/Interscope

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A muscular, Timbaland-shaped shadow loomed over the unlikely success of OneRepublic’s debut album, “Dreaming Out Loud.” His inescapable remix of the band’s single “Apologize” vaulted the group to multiplatinum sales and took frontman Ryan Tedder into the upper ranks of songwriting pens-for-hire in pop for Leona Lewis, Rihanna, Beyonce and many others.

Much of that record and Tedder’s outside writing were a weak broth of dorm room-canoodling ballads and R&B; with very little rhythm or blues. Fortunately, on OneRepublic’s second album, “Waking Up,” the band has internalized a lot of the things that made Timbaland such a compelling producer -- that good sounds are paramount, songs should move in odd directions and many different ideas can constitute a hook.

That’s not to say “Waking Up” sounds anything like Aaliyah or Missy Elliott. But the filtered dubstep drum loops and the Afro-pop marimba of “Missing Persons 1 & 2” have a real playfulness missing from the ceaseless Cinemascope of Tedder’s older efforts. “Marchin’ On” takes a backing vocal hook and writes a whole song around it, earning the bigness of its flags-and-fighting imagery. Even the overreaching piano musings like “All This Time” have a solo-McCartney goofy sweetness about them.

The band needs to stop mistaking the cello as an inherently “meaningful” instrument -- it’s too often deployed for maximum syrupiness. But Timbaland should be proud; OneRepublic is using his old tricks even better than he is lately.

-- August Brown

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A rap comeback on shaky ground

Rakim

“The Seventh Seal”

Ra Records/Tuscan Villa/SMC Recordings

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It’s been a long decade since Rakim’s last album, a period in which the New York native’s hometown lost its role as hip-hop’s locus to the South, the Midwest and the decentralizing tendencies of the Internet. It’s been an even lengthier 23 years since his debut 12” single with Eric B. revolutionized rap with its complex rhyming patterns, authoritative baritone, funky break-beats and indomitable cool.

The apotheosis of rap’s first Golden Age, Rakim spent the lion’s share of the 2000s mired in label purgatory at Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Records. Sadly, the fruits of their collaboration remain unheard, with Rakim unwisely discarding the Dre beats in favor of a cast of mostly unknowns. Indeed, “The Seventh Seal” is undone by its boilerplate production -- rote drum patterns, predictable piano lines and antiseptic studio technique.

The rappers who have stayed artistically vital despite advancing age (Ghostface Killah, Scarface, Slick Rick) are champion storytellers who continue to burnish their craft. Rakim remains frustratingly opaque, with the brunt of his songs dedicated to rapping about rapping. The 41-year-old attempts to channel the ferocity of his Reagan-era rhymes while balancing a spiritual side (“Man Above”) and romantic disposition (“You & I,” “Psychic Love,” “Still in Love.”)

Of course, there are few better formalists than Rakim, and when the music matches the master (“Holy Are U,” “How to Emcee”) the album reaches the rarefied heights of long ago. Unfortunately, all too often the god sounds like a mere mortal.

-- Jeff Weiss