Milla Jovovich - The Divine Comedy (1994)

You'd expect this to be a travesty. Milla Jovovich is a model and actress (The Fifth Element, He Got Game) who decided to put out an album of dark, lyrical art-rock in the manner of Dead Can Dance or This Mortal Coil. That's a demanding genre, littered with the bones and witchy jewelry of dozens of histrionic types who got the image thing right, but who never ironed out the "singing" and "songwriting" aspects of it all. Model? Actress? (Gong!) ... Next! Except The Divine Comedy is a stunningly good album, with folky-pastoral instrumentation, haunting, accomplished vocals, and tight songwriting. There are, it's true, session pros all over this CD--which tempers the awe a bit--but nonetheless, it's a real gem from an unlikely source. -- Gavin McNett