Supernatural Love

Owner of a richly mature voice that belies her relatively young age (she turns 35 this year), Katrine Madsen has been called the Diana Krall of Denmark. Indeed, she rivals the immensity of Krall’s popularity in her native land (and, if the Internet is to be trusted, seems to have quite a following Down Under). Stylistically, though, she is far closer to her jazz hero, Shirley Horn, mirroring Horn’s deep-purple pensiveness on “Never Let Me Go,” “You’re Nearer,” “Autumn Nocturne” and a sumptuously mellow reading of Lennon and McCartney’s “I’ll Keep You Satisfied.” Not everything about Supernatural Love works. Madsen’s unusual take on “I Got Lost in His Arms” is as frigid as a Scandinavian winter, and her minimalist approach to “All or Nothing at All” seems asymmetrically cold. But the plusses significantly outweigh the minuses, especially when Madsen and fellow Dane Caecilie Norby combine their writing talents and their voices on the joyously playful title track. (by Christopher Loudon)