Kasey Chambers

Kasey Chambers is at her most endearing when she’s unguarded, carelessly slipping into a gentle rasp and writing confessional, windswept songs with the natural warble of real yearning. Unfortunately, unlike earlier efforts, Carnival offers relatively little of that directness, delivering instead glossy, bland production that primarily serves to underscore the fact that—by conventional standards—Chambers’ voice is usually too flat and thin to sing anything approaching country music. Ironically, the number that works best is the haphazard pseudo-electronic waft of “Surrender,” while more familiar rootsy gestures feel either crassly forced or sadly anemic.