Nostalgia seems harmless, but Annie Lennox’s so-named new album is a real oddity. Ice Queen Annie, she of buzz cuts and Scottish alabaster, heady and soulful integrity, has now dug into some American standards for the venerable Blue Note label. It’s confounding to hear her approximating a Southern accent for “Memphis in June,” no doubt imitating the inflections of some old, beloved recording that fills her with longing. Later she takes on “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess in an unfortunately flat reading that forces the listener to wonder what kind of relationship she has with the song and its content, not to mention the very particular dialect Mr. Gershwin appropriated for it. I don’t wanna spend too much time on her delivery, but she gets around to “Strange Fruit” a few tracks later, and while she acquits herself well with the technicalities, that lyric begs for an ache and some agony that she just doesn’t bring to it. Much less confounding is Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You.” Lennox doesn’t have to reach for that one—it’s right in her throaty wheelhouse—and she delivers a commanding performance. “God Bless the Child” possesses a similar strength, but it’s still bizarre to hear her enunciating “mama” and “papa.”

Additionally, Nostalgia doesn’t gain any credibility from the generic, lifeless piano and synths that fill the background around Lennox’s voice like so much department store wallpaper. The tempos rarely get above maudlin and the bland instrumentation spends most of its time slowly fading away so as not to be noticed at all. Lennox would be better off going a cappella than relying on elevator-worthy dreck like this, and as such, the whole album is completely ill conceived. Her performances are occasionally compelling, but there’s very little creativity on the record. I hope Annie had a good time making it, but it’s painful to hear an artist of her caliber ignoring her greatest strengths.