The fifth album from singer/songwriter Eleni Mandell is at once cohesive and schizophrenic. While her songs conjure up images of shadowy bars and lipstick-stained cigarettes, there's an element of wry humor about her music, as if you just barely catch her giving you a wink while she sings about her broken heart. The simplicity of her songs belies their power; to listen to just one cut and think you understand what Mandell is about would be a mistake.

Holding the thirteen tracks together are Mandell's terse lyrics and husky voice. The rhetorical question asked in "Can't You See I'm Soulful?" captures the mood perfectly, as does the quiet, sexy sigh that escapes Mandell's lips after she implores:

Don't you know?
Can't you see I'm soulful?
Treat me like I'm heavy

While strong and easily listenable, the slower songs are the least impressive on the album. It seems that Mandell is holding back, that the safe confines of the ballads can only barely contain her. An exception is the superb "Dangerous," with a deliberate beat and even more deliberate lyrics. Hearing Mandell promise

And I can't wait to get
Your salty skin between my teeth

will send shivers down your spine. It's easily one of Mandell's best songs on this album, or any other.

But Afternoon isn't just a collection of smoky laments, it's an exercise in contrasts. After kicking things off with the jazzy and unassuming "American Boy," Mandell launches right into the album's title track, which is more Joey Ramone than Norah Jones. It's a fast, frantic number that lets the singer flex her punk muscles for a blistering minute-and-a-half. Of course, doesn't hurt that Kevin Fitzgerald of the Los Angeles band The Circle Jerks as around to assist with a driving drumline.

Fitzgerald is equally impressive across the board, as are guitarist Joshua Grange and bassist Ryan Feues. Though Mandell's voice is the real draw, her band is by no means incidental. Her interplay and fusion with the other musicians (she plays acoustic guitar on most tracks) is key to nearly every song.

Another standout track is the Nashville-infused "County Line," which hearkens back to Mandell's prior effort, "Country For True Lovers," simultaneously needling and celebrating cliches with a caustically delivered chorus:

I ask the heavens for explanations
I close my eyes and wish on the constellations
You crossed the country line and it was like we never met

And as if all that weren't eclectic enough, Mandell delves into full-on rock with the album's penultimate track, "Easy On Your Way Out," in which her snarled, aggressive lyrics and an equally aggressive guitar battle it out (she wins).

Afternoon isn't a perfect album by any means. While the slower songs are catchy, they aren't particularly memorable, even if Mandell's voice is. What makes this collection of songs such a treat is the variety. Whether tackling jazz, country, punk, or rock, Mandell succeeds, making each genre her own, forcing the music to serve her ends to almost entirely spectacular effect.

More news and reviews at scottpepper.blogspot.com.