Abra Moore: Floating along her way

Abra Moore
On The Way
Sarathan Records

People have been telling me for years I outta check out Abra Moore, and I can see why she has such a following.

Her voice, which can both whisper and wail, weaves a sparkly, ethereal sound that's atmospheric, but her songs contain enough insightful, down-to-earth lyrics to keep them from flying into a too out-there orbit.

If her name's familiar, it's because she's been in the biz for a while. She started out with Poi Dog Pondering, and under her own name had a semi-hit with 1997's "Four Leaf Clover" from her Grammy-nominated album "Strangest Places." And if her sound is familiar, it might be because she came along for the Lilith Fair ride at the request of superfan Sarah MacLachlan, and her voice brings to mind a less-raspy Rickie Lee Jones, or perhaps Sixpence None The Richer's Leigh Nash.

Like those artists, her sound is generally pop -- the instruments are mostly plugged-in and polished and there are plenty of layers. But in that mix are several other genres, like a jazzy turn on "Sorry" and some Eastern music flavors on the mystical "Sugarite." Surprising turns of melody and phrase spice up opener "Into the Sunset" and "You," highlights of this album.

But it's some lines from "Take Care of Me" that best capture the feelings of airiness and movement that come while listening to this album:

I can feel me falling to the sky,
I'm blowing away in the wind.
We won't ever have to say goodbye,
I'm just leaving this life that I'm in.

At the end of the CD, when you return gently to earth and the life that you're in, you'll probably consider it an hour or so well spent.