This Is How I Found You

New York City club chanteuse Miwa Gemini straddles many different genre lines. Her vocals evoke the sadder corners of the traditional blues and cabaret of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, her piano kicks out with the modern quirks of Fiona Apple (she also shares a similar vocal husk in her more animated moments), and much of her enhanced instrumentation spans the experimental-Americana indie-rock sported by the likes of Cat Power, Freakwater, Thalia Zedek, and the freak-folk movement starring Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom. Despite this long-ranging survey of modern music, Gemini remains her own woman and retains her own voice. Whether she’s interpreting roots music by channeling Tom Waits for “Traveling Man,” marinating in the bucolic folk quietude of the six-minute “Something Ordinary,” or stepping up the tempo for the near pop-rock of “Faces,” Gemini ties it together with clear authority. She never settles for monochromatic despair or easeful hippie-ecstasy. Songs unfold with a clash of styles and a range of emotions, complex even when seemingly simple.