Lila Downs

Shake Away is an odd album. In many ways, Downs has never sounded better -- her voice veers between throaty soul reminiscent of Patti Smith and piercing Yma Sumac heights. Her embrace of her Mexican heritage has grown less intellectual, and her duets -- with Cafe Tacuba's Ruben Albarran and Chambao's Mari, among others -- spice the album nicely. (And it's great to hear a Lucinda Williams cover in both Spanish and English.) There's a lot to like, but sometimes you grow embarrassed for her clumsily overt lyrics, much as you might admire her championing of the mythical common man.

This Oaxaca-born, Minnesota-raised singer dips into Mexican, American and other roots
traditions on her eighth album, injecting styles from brassy banda to Scottish folk into the
set; she even covers Lucinda Williams' wistful "I Envy the Wind" in English and Spanish. The
mélange doesn't always work, but when everything clicks, as on duets with Rubén
Albarrán ("Perro Negro") and Mercedes Sosa ("Tierra de Luz"), the results are as... More >