But all three of her albums have some great moments, and she’s an accomplished vocalist, able to deliver smooth pop or more characterful, rough vocals. Given Kimbra’s range of interests, it’s perhaps not surprising that she hasn’t made a fully satisfying album yet. But she’s well connected, touring with Janelle Monáe and collaborating with Carly Rae Jepsen. I probably wouldn’t be aware of Kimbra if it wasn’t for her New Zealand origins – she was born in the same city, Hamilton (also colloquially known as Hamiltron, city of the future), as my wife. The adult Kimbra is something of a conundrum, veering between R&B infused pop and more experimental fare.

Kimbra’s big break came just before the release of her debut album when she guested on Gotye’s Peter Gabriel style hit ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, covered in paint and providing duet vocals. But after a generic debut single ‘Deep For You’, she took time out and became more interesting. And she doesn’t play hard to get.Kimbra Johnson was earmarked for stardom early – there are videos online of her singing as a preteen, while she placed second in New Zealand’s national secondary school rock quest at the age of 14. In reality, it’s also desperate, but charming, too, and it sets the tone early: Kimbra isn’t afraid to sound weird. “Won’t you raise a child with me?” trills Kimbra over a bed of bop-bops and hand claps, adding, perhaps necessarily, “There’s no need to run.” On paper, it sounds a little desperate. “Vows” kicks off with “Settle Down,” in which the singer expresses to someone (A boyfriend? A crush?) her desire to get married and have babies. Huge-voiced, aggressively sprite-like Kimbra sometimes seems less like the spiritual offspring of Björk than a slightly strained facsimile, as if someone in a lab somewhere had stitched together an assemblage of Björk-like attributes the keening voice, that childlike laugh that’s adorable at first but gets to be terrifying after a while.

It’s a typically omnivorous first album that, in its fallow moments (“Vows” is 55 minutes and change) can seem scattered. It shoehorns in a little bit of everything: Nancy Sinatra pop, show tunes, funk, kittenish light jazz and a respectable Nina Simone cover (“Plain Gold Ring,” done as somberly as the chipper Kimbra can manage). Kimbra’s official debut, “Vows,” is snappy and smart, an often-great pop album with a knack for sounding more exotic than it is. It now seems poised to turn his duet partner, New Zealand singer Kimbra Johnson, into a new version of Björk for people who miss the gawky, early ’90s, fresh-from-the-Sugarcubes version.

The sleeper hit “Somebody That I Used to Know” has already turned its maker, Belgian singer Gotye, into a new version of Sting for people who never liked the old version.

Vows kimbra album