Jorge Drexler

Jorge Drexler's chief joy has been finding the miraculous in the mundane, and while 12 Segundos De Oscuridad continues the thread, the mundane seems to have become a bit tougher than usual. There's more than a whiff of infidelity to these songs, which skate the surface of loneliness and heartbreak (territory that Drexler had previously all but forsaken), and at times Drexler's customary melodic confidence seems shaken. But after a few listens, the brilliance reveals itself: His cover of Radiohead's "High And Dry" barely disguises a wailing spirit underneath -- and is utterly striking for it. And few have sung so beautifully of loneliness as he does with Maria Rita on "Soledad."