Corinne Bailey Rae + Sondre Lerche

Corinne Bailey Rae is a smooth-singing R&B star from the U.K. who turned heads across the pond with her self-titled album in 2006. She’s been dealt a rough hand—her husband, Jason Rae, passed away in 2008, and his death unavoidably cast a cloud over her recent sophomore album, The Sea. Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche earns a lot of Elvis Costello comparisons, because he does guitar pop in a tuneful, brainy way.