Secretly Canadian

In another’s voice, the songs on Swanlights could rest as dense abstractions, avant-garde pieces not ready for prime time. Released from Antony Hegarty’s aching throat, however, the tunes deliver an emotional punch that celebrate his somber worldview. Goth crowds feel the shadows falling on his pale, pared-down verse, while fans of John Cale and Nico add these elusive tracks to the art-song piles. Hegarty doesn’t even need words to moan in the moonlight. “I Want to Thank You for Your Love” is the R&B ballad in the middle of this adventure. It’s a welcome break before pop music’s other accessible oddball Björk sings in foreign tongue for the piano-ballad-gone-awry, “Fletta.” It’s stirring, disturbing, deliberately weird and fun.