Me and Armini

Singer/songwriter Emiliana Torrini delivers heartbreaking lyrics over an exotic array of pop sounds.

Singer/songwriter Emiliana Torrini has broad appeal. Her fans include Smog’s Bill Callahan, with whom she collaborated on a previous album; acclaimed director Peter Jackson, who tapped her for a song in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; and Kylie Minogue, who grabbed a number-one on the U.K. charts with the Torrini-penned “Slow.” Because she’s half-Italian, half-Icelandic, many might assume she’s simply folk music’s answer to Björk, but that’s not quite the case. Torrini has far more in common with legends such as Leonard Cohen and Kate Bush or newcomer El Perro del Mar. These influences are most apparent on Me and Armini, her third release. “Heard It All Before,” “Big Jumps,” and the breathy “Ha Ha” show Torrini’s range, with heartbreaking lyrics over an exotic array of pop sounds.