Free'

2 stars EMI

The American edition of "Colour Me Free" comes wrapped in an unsightly purple cover that looks like a rejected design for a "Taking Woodstock poster." Joss Stone prefers the version of her fourth album that shows her crammed into a cage like a factory-farm chicken, her limbs numbered like a butcher's diagram. The bizarre image, not exactly par for the slick soul singer's course, refers to her ongoing battle with EMI, which refused to release her from her contract despite a reported buyout offer of more than US$3 million. The album-opening "Free Me" bids for defiance, as she belts, "Don't tell me that I won't / I can." Too bad Stone's vision of independence is as colorless as that vague proclamation. The album's swipes from Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, et al., are as accomplished as ever, but she has devolved from retro-soul to retro-retro-soul, re-creating other people's simulations of a vintage sound. Freedom never sounded so constrained.

VARIOUS ARTISTS 'The

Twilight Saga'

3 1/2 Atlanatic

At this point, you can hardly go wrong buying into a vampire franchise. Tweens dig cute fang boys. Moms dream of toothy, near-fatal seductions. Dads dig vamp vixens. Everyone wins. With a soundtrack overseen by music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas (Gossip Girl, The O.C.), "New Moon" oozes with top-notch alt-all-star spookiness, recent cuts by Bon Iver and Grizzly Bear, and a Muse remix, among others. The original tracks on "New Moon" are surprisingly sedate - in fact, the whole affair is quieter and softer than its "Twilight" predecessor. While one doesn't require, say, the heavy hand of a Bauhaus to get the blood flowing, bringing Death Cab for Cutie (a tensely emotive yet melodically weak "Meet Me on the Equinox") to a teen soap opera is like playing Susan Boyle as background for "Saw VI." It's discordant, but not in the interesting way. Thankfully, Radiohead's Thom Yorke keeps his electro-ballad "Hearing Damage" jittery, pensive yet unnerving. Yorke's crepuscular tone belongs to vampire cinema. And God bless the Killers for playing up their camp side. "A White Demon Love Song" gives goth-glam a great name and lets Brandon Flowers ham it up splashily. It's no "Monster Mash," but it's close.

DEVENDRA BANHART

'What We Will Be'

3 stars Warner Bros.

Devendra Banhart became the eccentric shaman of the freak-folk movement, and those who object to the freak in that label have Banhart to blame more than any other artist. His quirky, usually brief songs can exude childlike wonder; they can also seem annoyingly juvenile. Fortunately, "What We Will Be," although recorded with the same crew that brought 2007's half-baked "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon," falls into the former category.

Banhart's a dabbler, and on his sixth album since 2002, he touches on Brazilian shuffles, after-hours crooning, rolling country-rock, percolating ska, psychedelic rock. There's a tribute to Roxy Music ("16th & Valencia, Roxy Music"), a gorgeous Spanish ballad ("Brindo"), and a handful of wide-eyed love songs. "Can't Help but Smiling" is the first track and an apt mantra for "What We Will Be."

LA ROUX 'La Roux'

3 stars Cherrytree/Interscope

Synth-pop darlings La Roux are a duo: songwriter/ singer Elly Jackson and keyboardist/producer Ben Langmaid. They make a surprisingly frazzled brand of rigid electronic music, a less-processed and decidedly non-sleek take on what passes at present for '80s-inspired danz-rock. Langmaid is to be thanked for busted-up beats and crusty arrangements on electro-luxe numbers such as "Reflections Are Protection." But like the duo it cribs from most, the Eurythmics, La Roux's central focus is its redheaded roarer. Jackson shares Annie Lennox's physical androgyny, what with her boyishly asymmetrical red hair. But it is her now-rough, now-silken croon and funky frostiness that, combined with the pair's rugged electronics, make La Roux dynamic and compelling. Her snotty interaction with tight grooves ("Tigerlily"), her throaty purr ("Colourless Colour"), rapturous highs ("In for the Kill") and teetering-on-the-cliff falsetto ("Fascination") - all are divine. While Jackson the lyricist wears her heart on her sleeve, then casts those ruminations in iron (the wistful "As if by Magic"), Jackson the singer never holds back. Even when broken - as through the doleful ballad "Cover My Eyes" - she summons the soul to out-sing the London Community Gospel Choir. Me impressed.