Petra Haden - Imaginaryland (1996)

Since Petra Haden has made a career out of playing second fiddle (literally and figuratively) in a number of pop acts (That Dog, the Rentals), it makes sense that she should get around to releasing a solo album -- after all, her backing vocals have become somewhat of a staple for the Los Angeles indie-rock bands revolving around Tom Grimley's Poop Alley studios. The surprise is that Haden's solo album is mainly a cappella, overdubbing several wordless lines into sweet pop constructions that sometimes take the slanted turn of That Dog's composition.

In addition to Haden's own compositions, Imaginaryland contains takes on works by Enya, Miranda Sex Garden and Bach, occasionally using a minimal amount of instrumentation to augment the vocals -- and despite the fact that the record's concept is a far cry from most of Haden's work, it turns out excellent.