Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Black is a survivor—and one gutsy diva. Born in Toronto’s tough Jane and Finch ’hood, the r&b singer got her start lending her gritty, soulful vocals to tracks by various T-dot hip-hop artists before making her debut with the big, bold This is Me. Black’s second album proves she has the songwriting chops to match her powerful alto. Along with “Seven Day Fool,” a ballsy remake of the Etta James classic, it features Black singing her ass off on a collection of first-rate original ballads and rugged dancefloor scorchers alike.

McCombs is a U.S. singer-songwriter, but no ordinary folkie. Signed to England’s Domino label (Franz Ferdinand, The Arctic Monkeys), he writes quirky songs about himself that sound like nothing else around. McCombs’ third album features his wry autobiographical perspective on such catchy tunes as “That’s That,” in which he croons cheerfully about working at a job cleaning toilets in a Baltimore club. Meanwhile, his dark, surrealistic side emerges on “Lionkiller” and the sprightly “Full Moon or Infinity.”

The Old Soul is the brainchild of Toronto’s Luca Maoloni, a gifted musician with an absurdist bent. Like Joel Gibb of The Hidden Cameras, Maoloni has extravagant, wacky ideas and orchestrates a large ensemble to try and execute them. Trouble is, Maoloni’s imagination has clearly run amok and the music on his group’s second album is all over the shop. From the cabaret-like “Your Sister” and the Tubular Bells-like “Want to Be Seen” to the frivolous calypso romp “Let’s Neck,” it’s a sprawling, ill-conceived mess.