Additional personnel: Jesse Harris (acoustic guitar); Dan Seiden, Daniel Littleton (electric guitar); Jennifer Frautschi, Joseph Lin (violin); Eric Gaenslen (cello); Juan Patino (piano, background vocals); Steve Forman (percussion); Elizabeth Mitchell (background vocals).

Recorded at Juan Patino's apartment and 52nd Street Digital, New York, New York.

Personnel: Lisa Loeb (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, background vocals); Jesse Harris (acoustic guitar); Dan Littleton, Tim Bright (electric guitar); Joseph Lin, Jennifer Frautschi (violin); Eric Gaenslen (cello); Juan Patino (piano); Steve Forman (percussion).

Audio Mixers: Juan Patino; Brian Malouf.

Recording information: 52nd St. Digital, NY, NY; Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY; RPM Studios, NY, NY.

Illustrator: Ed Fotheringham.

Photographers: Mark Seliger; Eduardo Patiño.

With strong melodies and a compelling vocal style, Lisa Loeb is emerging as one of the decade's most talented budding singer/songwriters. TAILS shifts gears between soft, lilting folk-rock and big, guitar-based pop, and proves that this talented New Yorker is clearly defining her sound with every well-placed note. Of course the tempting cliche, used too often by rock critic-types, is to proclaim any woman whose voice doesn't spit and snarl as "vulnerable." And yes, Loeb does have a certain wistfulness about her.

Yet the writer behind songs like "It's Over" and "Do You Sleep" is less vulnerable than confused, lovestruck and, at times, bitter. "Over" starts with a simple guitar strum, a la Joni Mitchell and early Suzanne Vega. But the song builds, through electric guitars, harmonizing voices, and a soaring chorus about a rough topic: "The drone in your voice and the fly on the wall said/It's over, it's over it's over it is." "Sleep" also starts quietly, but develops into near-anthem status, with Tim Bright's sweeping, ringing guitar work carrying Loeb to a new level of emotive strength. "Waiting For Wednesday" is another highlight, a clean-edged pop/rock jewel, faceted with luxurious guitars and fine, upper-register harmonies.

TAILS is a collection at once beautiful and spare, self-conscious and totally accessible. Loeb embodies that rarest of combinations--a fine singer and an even better writer. And in the end, listening to it is like sinking, slowly, into a pool of warm water on a cool night. The steam rises, but the body and spirit are calmed.