The Errant Æsthete

If the raspy, plaintive chansons on her first album, Quelqu’un m’a dit (Naïve, 2005), weren’t enough to convince you that Carla Bruni had more going for her than that whole Italian heiress/supermodel/rock star arm-candy thing, her sophomore effort, No Promises (Downtown Records), which hit stores last week, will make a believer of you yet.

Deciding that her own introspective lyrics couldn’t compete with the words of her favorite poets, Bruni tailored her guitar arrangements to accompany works by W. H. Auden, Dorothy Parker, Emily Dickinson, W. B. Yeats, and others, confirming that the onetime face of Dolce, Chanel, and YSL can definitively add smart cookie—fat-free cookie, that is—to her list of attributes.