Various Artists (Arthur Russell) Four Songs By Arthur Russell

Four Songs By Arthur Russell is an accurate title for this EP. The four songs in question are delivered by Vera November, Jens Lekman, Taken By Trees, and Joel Gibb. The way they pay tribute to the bridge providing disco cellist is a competition to out-pretty each other. Every track offers unrushed, aching vocals and minimal but perfect organic instrumentals. Quite a pleasant twenty minutes, actually.

The results are ranked descendingly.

Vera November, whose voice is known from Electrelane, does best with the delicate, extended delivery of Our Last Night Together. Jens Lekman follows up with a shorter and slighter song, slathering his trademark gorgeousness all over A Little Lost.

The remaining versions of Make 1, 2 and That's Us/Wild Combination don't upset this aesthetic rubric or standard of quality, but nor do they stand out. Sometimes the minor celebrities steal the show. Russell comes out looking good, too, forging a posthumous career standard somewhere below J Dilla and above Tupac.