♫ Leave Your Sleep | B

After an almost seven year absence, singer and former 10,000 Maniacs front woman Natalie Merchant has returned with her fifth studio release, a concept album entitled Leave Your Sleep. The album is a compilation of modified 19th and 20th century British and American childhood poetry as well as works from noted poets like E. E. Cummings, Jack Prelutsky and Robert Graves.

Every song is done in a different style, but the overall earthy sound of the album brings a feeling of mysticism and relaxation that keeps the audience engaged throughout the album's 26-track duration. Violins accompanying acoustic guitars give a sweet, sad sound heard vividly in "If No One Ever Marries Me," a solemn track about a woman doomed to be a spinster. In "Bleezer's Ice-Cream" the bluegrass, upbeat melody of the song goes perfectly with the eccentric lyrics making references to such flavors as "yam anchovy prune pastrami" and "cotton candy carrot custard".

"The Dancing Bear" is a whimsical song that mixes old world Yiddish melodies with contemporary flair, using fiddles, which mix well with the folksiness of her voice. Similarly in a 40's jazz style, "The Blind Man and the Elephant," a song about six blind men who go to see an elephant, is light-hearted and comical with a soulful beat.

Although the musical style changes from song to song, the album has a constant flow from beginning to end. However, the album is relatively long, clocking in at almost 2 hours. Though these songs originated as children's poems, Leave Your Sleep can be appreciated by people of all ages.