POP MUSIC REVIEW : Jill Sobule: Pop by Nature

The pop scene has witnessed a quick transition from a dearth of talented female singer-songwriters on major labels to a glut of the same, leaving the many daughters of Suzanne Vega and Edie Brickell to fight it out for the few spots of notoriety likely to be afforded any of them. Thus the arrival of a noteworthy newcomer like Jill Sobule may pass almost unheralded except among the most eagle-eyed observers, the likes of whom afforded her a warm welcome Tuesday at Cafe Largo.

Though the acoustic guitar-wielding Sobule might first appear as some sort of veteran folkie, her instincts are almost pure pop in nature. Todd Rundgren produced her new album, “Things Here Are Different,” as accomplished a debut as you’ll hear this year.

Since Rundgren produced the album without his typical wall of sound, the minimal three-piece backing live didn’t have many holes, and Sobule herself fairly soared, whether singing disingenuous love songs or edging off the track.

Naysayers might assign her to the “sensitive” school, but she has the nerve to mock her own psychobabble in her album’s title song, and her character-rich narratives show more compassion than self-concern. (She proved Tom Lehrer-like funny, too, in the new “Berlin Mall.”) Sobule’s too good to be another globule in a glut.