Melting

Bay Area singer/songwriter Jessica Stone’s sophomore effort finds the 2002 Independent Songwriter Magazine’s “Best Independent Songwriter on the Internet” winner adding jazz to her considerable arsenal of genres, resulting in a folk-pop/country-tinged/jazz hybrid that will appeal to fans of Jewel, Suzanne Vega, Joni Mitchell, and Norah Jones. Melting is stocked with its fair share of warm, changeable, confessional ballads like “Fading,” “Flowers in Her Hair,” and the lovely title cut, but there’s a refreshing, playful quality to Stone’s swingier numbers like “Sort Of,” the bluesy “Need You,” and a choice cover of Willie Nelson’s “Wake Me When It’s Over,” that shows an artist that is willing not only to expand her comfort zone, but to thrive in it. – James Christopher Monger