Michelle Branch: Hotel Paper

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating:* *)

She's the first of 2001/2002's supposed anti-Britney pop gals — see also Avril Lavigne, Vanessa Carlton — to make it back to the shelves this year.

That haste means it's an album about adjusting to her new pop life — "I write mostly on hotel paper" she sings forlornly on the title track — while many a song, like the impressively aggressive Empty Handed, comes with a robust if anonymous rock approach which sounds like the gigs are getting bigger.

But Branch's songwriting still lags a long way behind her singing. She still respects her elders, though — her annoying duet with Carlos Santana, Game of Love, is included here, as is Love Me Like That, a country harmony-fest with Sheryl Crow which sounds like a grab for the Dixie Chicks' market share.
It's all pleasant enough, but artistic maturity still sounds at least another 12 months away.

Label: Maverick