Nina Nastasia

Nina Nastasia is a New Yorker, which makes sense because On Leaving is a perfect autumn-in-N.Y.C. record. Brushed drums and acoustic guitars shuffle around like blown leaves in Tompkins Square Park, and Nastasia's voice is the perfect sweater-weather companion -- not too chilly, not too warm, a brisk, pensive trill. Pianos and other percussion occasionally fill out the instrumentation, but for the most part these are guitar and voice meditations, catchy in parts, spooky in others and just generally great.