Alanis Morissette — Flavors Of Entanglement

As she sings on "Moratorium," Alanis Morissette is re-evaluating her priorities, placing a hold on relationships and trying to renew herself. This extends to all of her seventh studio album, which was produced by Guy Sigsworth (Frou Frou, Temposhark). Opening track "Citizen Of The Planet" is nothing new, since it features the pseudo-Eastern instrumentation Morissette's been fiddling with since she returned from India. Then you get to "Underneath," which has a weird pop-punk sound. That's nothing compared to the incredibly jarring electronic beats on "Straitjacket." The weird electronic experiments don't end there. "Giggling Again For No Reason" contains a strange Imogen Heap-esque "Hooooo" at the end, which further throws the listener off, and the ethereal backing vocals on closer "Incomplete" will result in head-scratching. When she belts out, "I'm barely making sense" on "Not As We," it's entirely appropriate. There's nothing wrong with experimentation, but it's ineffective here, which makes Flavors Of Entanglement Morissette's most artistically confused album to date.

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