Poe (aka Annie Danielewsky) is a considerable talent. Her latest, Haunted contains 17 confidently rendered songs whose coordinates intersect somewhere between Garbage and Aimee Mann and I think it's the best music value of the year.

Annie has sampled excerpts from spoken word tapes that she discovered in the attic of her late Father's home, as well as some eerie answering machine recordings from her estranged Mother, and it is these parental narratives that put the haunt in Haunted.

There's no end to the back-story involved in this record--many of the songs could be considered as a musical companion to her brother Mark's brilliant novel House of Leaves. A critically beloved book about a family who moves into a house that is much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Though the album contains a fair share of experimental distractions, most of it worked for me and none of it detracts from the fact that Haunted is jam-packed with well over a dozen wonderfully engaging and accessible songs.

I agree with the critics who have dismissed some of her lyrics as a bit too trite, but itÕs the only flaw here and one easily overlooked as you lose yourself in this house of many floors, hidden corridors and unexpected treasures. Really, really good record. Trust me. It knocked PJ Harvey out of my player and enjoyed an uninterrupted two week stretch before I finally discovered Coldplay.