Columbia

Punk poet Patti Smith is experiencing something of an unexpected career renaissance in the wake of the 2008 biopic Dream of Life and her 2010 National Book Award winning tome Just Kids. Banga, her eleventh album, sounds as vital as the music that Smith made during her late ‘70s heyday. But that doesn’t mean Smith is rehashing the same old ideas. On this self-produced effort, her subject matter is as unpredictable as ever, with odes to the earthquake victims of Japan ( “Fuji-san” ) and 15th century Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci ( “Amerigo” ). Smith’s music, meanwhile, has grown more subtle and nuanced. The Amy Winehouse tribute “This Is the Girl” is rich with girl group harmonies, while the trippy backing track of the ten-minute spoken word piece “Constantine’s Dream” recalls John Cale’s arrangements for Nico. The album-closing hidden track “Kids” recounts her relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe, delivering a surprise summation of her book.