Jen Chapin has stretched out on Linger, her third disc, adding additional musicians and a string section to accompany her evocative tunes, rather than relying solely on husband Stephan Crump’s double bass to underscore her shape-shifting vocalizations as she did on 2002’s Open Wide. Her earlier effort was a stark, chilly affair, the only warmth coming from her idiosyncratic voice, which ranges from a Minnie Riperton meow, to a smoky blues moan, to an R&B rasp. Overtime Chapin’s voice has become a more sophisticated instrument that moves effortlessly from the steamy pages of her diary to the after-hours clubs in Munich, to the tragedy of child soldiers in West Africa, without sounding a false note. A Berklee trained lyricist, and a tireless advocate against poverty and world hunger, Chapin combines the personal with political, writing with a conscience and grace that one rarely encounters. --Jaan Uhelszki