Uncover Me

iTunes Review

With Uncover Me, Canada’s Jann Arden shifts her attention to classic pop tunes made famous by a disparate list of artists. Arden brings out the sometimes hidden scars and bruises found in these songs, as well as the flashes of hope contained in a few of them. Some of her choices — “California Dreamin’,” “At Seventeen” — yield adequate if predictable results. More revelatory is her bittersweet take on Petula Clark’s “Downtown” and her rueful recasting of Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield.” Arden strips the bravado from Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” to touch its vulnerable core and gives a contemporary urgency to Freda Payne’s ‘70s antiwar hit “Bring the Boys Home.” Her aching inflections make her a good match for the Carpenters’ “Solitaire.” “Counterfeit Heart,” a torchy Arden original, compliments the covers. Uncover Me compares favorably with Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoff’s similar Under the Covers in its attempt to recreate the tuneful melancholy of earlier pop eras. As ever, Arden’s way with sadness is artfully done.