Patricia Barber's Concord Jazz debut sees the vocalist, pianist and composer in the company of a new band and features 12 sparkling originals. As immediately announced by album opener ‘Code Cool’, which flips in a heartbeat from a simple ostinato to total abstraction, Barber uses the element of surprise to terrific effect throughout the collection. Lyrically, too, she eschews the usual platitudes in her storytelling (when was the last time you heard the word ‘discombobulation’ in a song?). There's an overpowering sense of creative freedom at play on Smash, from the gentle bossa of ‘Redshift’ to the disco riffing of ‘Devil’s Food' to the grungy guitar solo that suddenly tears a huge hole in the delicate title track. Then when she strips everything back to just voice and piano, as on ‘Romanesque’, Barber can slay you with her touching honesty. “This is the sound of a heart breaking,” she gently sings. And you believe every word.