Album: Macy Gray, Covered (Island)

The problem with having a languid style is that it's easily taken for sheer laziness, especially when the results lack a certain spark.

Macy Gray may have laboured diligently over these cover versions, but what comes across most is nonchalant disinterest, as she moans over sepulchral organ on "Creep" and staggers alienated through "Here Comes the Rain Again". The best track here is Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" treated as a lilting electric piano waltz. But overall: must try harder. Or appear to.

Download: Nothing Else Matters; Wake Up