Possessing a strong, if unspectacular, voice and an adequate melodic sense, Bermuda-born half-Canadian Heather Nova fills her fourth album with a mix of sprightly pop numbers and moodier meditations

South

Possessing a strong, if unspectacular, voice and an adequate melodic sense, Bermuda-born half-Canadian Heather Nova fills her fourth album with a mix of sprightly pop numbers and moodier meditations on love. The former, sadly in the minority, are easily the most engaging songs on South--the swooning opener "If I Saw You in a Movie," the first single "Virus of the Mind," and the teasing "I'm No Angel" (cowritten with ex-London Suede guitarist Bernard Butler) resound long after the last notes of skin-deep lovelorn ruminations like "Talk to Me." It's not that all the songs about uncommunicative lovers and romantic idylls are bad. It's just that by the time Nova's heart opens "like an oyster shell" on South's closing track, the album has fallen victim to the musician's most indulgent singer-songwriter tendencies. Only the Hungarian suicide ballad "Gloomy Sunday," tacked on three tracks before the end, offers any hint Nova might be deeper than she appears in her self-penned tunes. --Shawn Conner

South