Jem

Back in '04, Jem's well-crafted debut heralded both the whimsical-coffee-shop-pop movement and the song-poingnant-enough-to-close-the-angstiest-TV-show trend. So 2008 should be the Welsh singer's year since she's got a couple secret weapons that give her an edge over the Ingrid Michaelsons and Imogen Heaps: a way with a dance beat and a predilection for off-kilter aesthetic nuances. Sometimes this combination of husky-voiced gauziness and quirky eclecticism falls flat ("Crazy," the lackluster last two tracks), but most of the time, this indie ingenue just nails it (as on the title track).