While cliché has it that second albums are difficult, Lene Marlin's Another Day almost didn't happen at all. So shell-shocked was the Norwegian singer-songwriter by the runaway success of her debut album Playing My Game--which thanks to chirpy first single "Sitting Down Here" sold almost two million copies worldwide--that she contemplated retiring from music altogether, feeling ill-equipped for stardom. Understandably then, her follow-up, which was four years in the making, is littered with fragile songs of insecurity and doubt, with Marlin sounding every inch the little-girl-lost looking for answers and comfort. Much to her credit, she's stayed true to herself rather than trying to fit the pop-star profile and supply catchy hits. The irrepressibly cute sing-along of "Sitting Down Here" was always the odd one out among her debut album's folksy laments, and wisely Another Day sticks to her original plan with a raft of beautifully intimate lullabies. And while written with all the ambiguity of love songs, the hushed sways of "Fight Against the Hours" and "From This Day", and tale of separation "You Weren't There", resonate with a tangible loneliness and alienation that suggest her wilderness years weren't totally in vain.