Katie Melua - Secret Symphony (Music CD)

For her fifth album, the follow-up to 2010's The House, the Georgian-born British chanteuse steps away from her typical format of contemporary folk-pop penned in conjunction with her mentor Mike Batt, choosing instead to record what she calls "a singer's album" - that is, an orchestral-backed album primarily comprising vocal pop covers. Showing off Batt's phenomenal but rarely-tapped strengths as an orchestrator, the album includes versions of Ron Sexsmith's "Gold in Them Hills" and Bonnie Raitt's "Too Long at the Fair", as well as a couple of Melua originals.