H.E.R.

With *H.E.R.*, the singer and multi-instrumentalist of the same name, who declines to show her face or confirm her identity, has reconfigured the whole of her output into one long-playing album: *Vol. 1* and *2* are here, along with six previously unreleased tracks. *H.E.R.* is soulful and soul-baring R&B, with immaculate songwriting and soothing melodies. A delicate cover of Drake\'s \"Jungle\" wrings hope from defeat, but the lush arrangement of \"Rather Be\" reveals a penchant for the power ballad. Daniel Caesar has the album’s lone guest spot (“Best Part”), and, together with H.E.R., they deliver a duet in the image of Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo’s timeless “Nothing Even Matters.”

As a listening experience, these 21 songs therefore are effective more in their original configurations than in this resequenced 72-minute clump.