So we’re nearing the end of best-of-year season; the Village Voice Pazz and Jop list (or Jop and Pazz, or whatever the hell it’s called) will be out sometime in the next month or so, but pretty much else has already shot their load. This is bad news for music lovers, because rarely does January have much to offer in the way of new releases. The next Nellie McKay album, set for an early January release, has been set back due to a falling out with Columbia Records, so there goes the one high-profile release on the schedule (at least, the only one I’m aware of).

But all is not lost for January, and that’s largely thanks to Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins. The frontwoman for Rilo Kiley has recorded an album of material without Blake Sennett and the gang, and Rabbit Fur Coat is due out on the 24th. As is the case with nearly everything else these days, the album leaked months ago, and the word is that it’s really quite good. Lewis has, in recent years, transformed as a singer; on The Execution Of All Things Lewis came off as a bit quirky, a bit sardonic, a bit vulnerable. The way she sang songs like “The Good That Won’t Come Out” and “My Slumbering Heart,” it was as if Lewis was this girl you’ve known since grade school, and she would tell you stories in a way that felt like she was letting you in on a big secret, and it was totally between you and her, and wasn’t that kinda cool? It was all very low-key and personal. But now those stories are fleshed out, and Lewis has grown into the role of the Entertainer. She’s a much better singer now, relying less and less on that sardonic voice she used to use. Now she’s telling those same stories to enraptured audiences across the country. And it’s not the same anymore—it doesn’t feel like a secret conspiracy of two the way it did before—but her voice so much more confident, more expressive. She’s a better storyteller now, and you can’t help but appreciate the craft and skill she puts into everything, even as you wish she could still tell you stories as if they were meant just for you.

I’m not entirely sure how much of that story had to do with Jenny Lewis, but I hope you get the idea.