Along with Portugal's Mariza, Souad Massi - an Algerian living in Paris - belongs to a new wave of international female artists singing heartbroken songs.
"I cry for help and nobody answers," Massi wails on Theghri, while on Ech Edani she laments: "I shouldn't have fallen in love with you."
They may sound gloomy, but Massi's songs are rendered irresistible by a combination of gorgeous melodies, sumptuously multicultural instrumentation and a production that glitters. Moudja has the affecting simplicity of a nursery rhyme, while the handful of up-tempo numbers feature layers of Rai-inspired male vocals and a whirling melange of strings and percussion.
The overriding atmosphere is best encapsulated on Yemma, in which an unhappy girl telephones her mother and tells her: "It's very cold . . . nobody takes care of me." Sung in Arabic, it's the most affecting tear-jerker you'll hear this year.
