*** Patty Larkin

PERISHABLE FRUIT

(High Street)

The jacket announces that the album was "plucked, thumped, and sampled on stringed instruments," which generally means acoustic instruments accompanied by people tapping on the sides of acoustic instruments for rhythm. When Larkin departs from that recipe, as on the sharp, folkie-techno "Wolf at the Door" or the sunny, swaying "Pablo Neruda," it's fairly rewarding. Elsewhere, not having drums really pays off in helping the singer step toward the sparse simplicity and emotional directness of people like Rosanne Cash and Richard Thompson -- a welcome change from the relative slickness of her last album. The best songs -- the dreamy, Jane Siberry-ish "Coming Up for Air" (featuring Siberry herself on a guest vocal) and, my favorite, the closing "Red Accordion" -- are the simplest and most unadorned. Also featured are background vocals by the Story's Jennifer Kimball and standout electric-guitar work by Marc Shulman, not to mention at least three different melody lines that would make excellent '70s Classic Rock Riffs.

-- Peter Travis

(Patty Larkin performs this Friday, November 21, at the Somerville Theatre.)