With a Tori Amos mane of tomato-red hair, a gauzy voice made to deliver her bookish lyrics and more than 1 million followers on Twitter, A Fine Frenzy leader Alison Sudol is ready for her close-up. The band's second album, "Bomb in a Birdcage," builds on the more ethereal qualities of its 2007 buzz-heavy debut, "One Cell in the Sea," by focusing as much on drums as on Sudol's percussive piano playing. The added energy suits her melodies well. Such tracks as "What I Wouldn't Do," "Electric Twist" and the first single, "Blow Away," churn like giddy summer romances, nailing the delicate balance of charming and smart. Hand claps, swirling guitars and Sudol's coquettish voice create a shoegaze-meets-folk mashup that usually bears a British stamp (see the Sundays, Lush). Sudol can still deliver an acoustic bleeder, like the album closer, "Beacon," but "Bomb in a Birdcage" shows there's much more up her billowy sleeve. --Kerri Mason
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