Natalie Merchant “Leave Your Sleep”
Standouts - “Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience,” “The Man in the Wilderness,” “Autumn Lullaby”

Natalie Merchant is back with her first studio album in six years. But “Leave Your Sleep” is different than anything she’s done before. The album is her musical take on 19th and 20th century poetry. Merchant offers 26 songs on two discs, and experiments with a range of sounds from chamber music to Celtic folk. The uniqueness of Merchant’s music is definitely there, but if you thought her sound was weird before, steer clear of this one.