Natalie Merchant on tour at the Merriam

Even some of the singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant's oldest fans are likely to be slightly befuddled by her current show. Confronted by projected photos of various writers while Merchant offers brief anecdotes about them and their work, folks might think they've wandered into a college lecture rather than an eclectic vocal concert. Merchant at 46 even looks the part: modestly dressed, her hair in a bun, wearing sensible shoes, suitably schoolmarmish.

That bewilderment doesn't last long, though. Soon enough, the music starts, the hair comes down, and it's clear that if this is a lecture, she's the coolest, hippest professor in the department. Merchant's July 20 show at the Merriam centered on her first new album in seven years, after a hiatus for marriage and motherhood.

In Leave Your Sleep, possibly her most ambitious work yet, Merchant sets to music a collection of poems and verse by both well-known and obscure American and British poets. It's an unusual, courageous move for Merchant, whose previous work has always featured her own original lyrics. In this song cycle, however, she's chosen to interpret the words of others through a dizzyingly diverse collection of musical influences, ranging from traditional folk and bluegrass, Appalachian, klezmer, Celtic, classical, Tin Pan Alley, reggae, R&B, jazz and, yes, even a little rock 'n roll.

What band is this?

At the Merriam, that musical eclecticism was evident even before the show began, simply by noting the odd collection of instruments waiting onstage: acoustic guitars, a piano, an accordion, an upright bass, a banjo, a clarinet and a string section. It might be a folk band, except for the string section; it might be a string quartet, save for the guitars and banjo; it's definitely not an alternative rock band like Merchant's old group, 10,000 Maniacs, with which she first achieved prominence in the 1980s before going solo in 1993. The closest description might be Americana chamber folk-pop, but even that is probably missing something.

In concert, Merchant led her audience through selections from Leave Your Sleep, keeping things going with more than enough charm to ward off any bad memories of soporific professors. By the time Merchant finished talking about the poet and poem in question, she'd inspired eagerness not only to hear the poem itself but also to see how she'd give it musical life.

At one point Merchant even brought up on stage a little girl from the audience, who helped recite a bit of Edward Lear with a little shyness but great aplomb.

Oldies, but with surprises

For her numerous old fans hungry for a taste of Merchant's previous platinum-selling work, she didn't disappoint, saving the oldies for several lengthy and generous encores. Even then, she had surprises to spring.

For example, "Eat For Two," from her days with 10,000 Maniacs, used to be readily identifiable as a rock song, despite its somber subject matter: a young girl forced into unplanned motherhood. (That tense contrast between a bright, upbeat musical style and dark lyrical subject was a particular trademark of her 10,000 Maniacs oeuvre.) But her new interpretation, featuring viola and cello, transformed "Eat For Two" from a downbeat rock tune into a gorgeous, dirge-like lament of lost innocence and a life destroyed.

Reticent no more

The first time I saw Merchant in concert with 10,000 Maniacs (at Penn's Irvine Auditorium in 1987), she was famous (or infamous) for her onstage reticence, barely looking at or addressing the audience and often dancing off by herself in a corner, a shy little girl lost in her own inner world. But she's evolved over the years into a seasoned and seductively intense performer who can effortlessly move between the darkness and the light.

While some of the poems contained in Leave Your Sleep may have been originally intended as lullabies, Merchant's work is hardly sleep-inducing. Leave your sleep, indeed.