Album: Rumer, Boys Don't Cry (Atlantic)

The second album seems a little soon for Rumer to be pulling the covers over her head.

BDC consists entirely of songs associated with men and it's an often-obscure selection. At a glance I recognised Hall and Oates' "Sara Smile" and Jimmy Webb's "PF Sloan", and I do this for a living. They're all rendered in the same Carpenters-meets-Carole-King style as Seasons of My Soul. And, obscure or not, they're songs worth learning, especially when sung as gorgeously as this. SP