Kristin Hersh's life seems to be governed by cruel happenstance. Following a tumultuous tenure with her first band, Throwing Muses, and their tempestuous aftermath, she formed a group called 50 Foot Wave. Wave crashed due to ill-timing; their debut, Golden Ocean, had its release scheduled the month after the 2004 tsunami disaster. Bad luck indeed. Still, the bizarre coincidence doesn't end there. The eerie doom-laden lyrics she wrote for her new album Learn to Sing Like a Star actually foretold her encounter with Hurricane Katrina, and, weirder still, they actually predicted the scenario that took place when a burst pipe flooded her home and ruined her financially. So it's little wonder that its title was inspired by a pop-up message on her computer; by then, she was probably more than willing to defer to the fates.

No wonder too that an unsettling ambiance underscores the entire album, creating a disquieting, oftentimes disturbing miasma that haunts the effort from first note to last. Hersh's vocals are deceptively child-like at times, but the music beneath them is menacing and disquieting - haunting violins, percolating rhythms and a didactic, kinetic intensity add to the malevolent tone. The lyrics reflect her anguish: "Damp and sour-skulled, we land with a thud," she moans on "Under the Gun." "I've lost everything," she wails on "Day Glow." However, there is an upside. In a reflection of her agony, Hersh has created a powerful, mesmerizing work, one that offers an ironic nod to its title and assures her status as a star.

-Lee Zimmerman