Search - Jenny Toomey :: Tempting: Jenny Toomey Sings the Songs of Franklin Bruno

If indie rock has a class president, it's lovely, well-heeled, and politically active singer-songwriter Jenny Toomey, who preaches the D.I.Y ethic with more savvy than Ian MacKaye and Calvin Johnson combined. On Tempting, the carrot-topped chanteuse gets a cast of tasteful, wide-ranging musicians (including Joey Burns and John Convertino from Calexico) together to tackle 12 songs by über-witty Nothing Painted Blue frontman Franklin Bruno. Like Richard Davies, Joe Pernice, John Darnielle and Stephin Merritt, Bruno crafts catchy songs that blend a misanthropic and ironic world view with borderline sappy emotions. This lounge-flavored alterna-tribute is relentlessly strong. Toomey has turned into a spectacular torch singer; her muscular voice demonstrates Olympic grace throughout, but it really shines on the string-driven "Empty Sentiment." Unabashedly wordy and witty, Tempting is the ideal accompaniment to a lazy Sunday spent figuring out the New York Times crossword puzzle. --Mike McGonigal