After two years of constant touring, Canadian singer/songwriter Leslie Feist, whose sultry voice is more than magnetic, finally returns with new material. Her chilled-out 2004 debut "Let It Die" eased through bossa, French pop, folk and electronica, suggesting someone blissfully trapped in her own world. But "The Reminder," recorded in an old mansion outside Paris, has an organic, full-band feel, with more guitars and louder drums. Cuts like the country flavored "Past and Present" or the straight-ahead "I Feel It" unearth the artist's indie-rock roots (Feist is a key member of Toronto collective Broken Social Scene), while the piano-led "My Moon My Man" builds a hypnotic dance groove. Seeking low-fi loneliness, Feist always returns to intimate girl-with-guitar ballads ("Intuition," "The Water"), making "The Reminder" a fantastically colorful and original effort. —Sven Philipp