Singer/songwriter Missy Roback has a gem of a pop record in her debut Just Like Breathing. Producer/husband Steven Roback (formerly of the Rain Parade and Viva Saturn) gives her a sparkling, folkish backdrop, with gently distorted electric guitars, lush acoustic guitars, tasteful percussion, warm keyboards and melodic basslines framing her intimate vocals. But the greatest virtues of this platter are the songs themselves. Roback explores the exquisite pain of heartbreak in Nearest Star, Take It Back and Compass, breathes the refreshing air of forgiveness in The Only One and picks at the raw wound of betrayal in the title track. She celebrates the positive aspects of human relationships in the tender, loving Blue-Eyed Baby, but mostly she dwells on the troublesome side of this thing called love. With her lovely voice and her husband's immediately appealing accompaniment delivering the bad news, it sounds like she's working through it, though. Rotten love never sounded so good. — Michael Toland

For fans of Aimee Mann, Marti Jones, Ken Stringfellow