Love is an Art

Yeah, yeah, “A Thousand Miles”—that was nearly two decades ago. (And it still bangs.) And if you haven’t been paying attention since, you might be surprised by the elegant and often idiosyncratic folk-pop that Carlton’s been putting out over the years. Produced by Dave Fridmann, who’s worked with bands from Sleater-Kinney to MGMT, the songwriter’s sixth album is full of strange little twists and turns—more Dirty Projectors than Top 40 radio. Take the cavernous title track, backed by gentle synth arpeggios and sampled rainfall, or the psychedelic fuzz of “I Can’t Stay the Same,” an ode to evolution.

On her sixth studio album, the former TRL star writes and sings with worldly wisdom and plaintive abandon.