Vanessa Grall

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.

French pop star (and significant other of Johnny Depp) recorded her English-language debut record in 1991; the self-titled disc was a bit of a flop commercially, but, surprisingly, succeeds artistically. Producer Lenny Kravitz gives Vanessa Paradis some of his best songs and she really can carry a tune with her breathy little-girl vocals. The highlights of the record are many, but the songs that will have you smiling like a fool at the sheer poptasticness of it all are the gliding funk with orchestra of "Natural High;" the strutting girl group of "Be My Baby;" the sweet-as-sugar sunshine pop of "Sunday Mondays;" the psych-soul of "Your Love Has Got a Handle on My Mind" (which features Paradis' most assured vocal and a nice background assist from Kravitz); and the sweet soul of "Just as Long as You Are There."

Vanessa Paradis had her first hit when she was 14 years old in 1987. The song, "Joe Le Taxi," launched a career that encompassed acting and modeling, creative pursuits that made the French native an international superstar and attracted such high-profile romantic interests as Lenny Kravitz – who produced her eponymous English debut in 1992 – and Johnny Depp, who fathered her actress daughter, Lily-Rose Depp, in 1999…