The Memphis-born Megan Reilly came to New York in 1999 with the hope of becoming a singer-songwriter and benefited from the aid of the same people who helped out another folk-influenced Southern chanteuse with a gripping, unconventional voice -- Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power. Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, who played on early Cat Power albums (and released them on his Smells Like label) and Two Dollar Guitar guitarist and fellow Cat Power alum Tim Foljahn both took a liking to Reilly's breathy, plaintive vocals and unconventional songwriting, with Foljahn becoming her lead guitarist. If pedigree is any indication of quality, Reilly's in good shape, as Tony Maimone of Pere Ubu became her bassist and Steve Goulding of the Mekons her drummer. But Reilly herself has talent in spades. Her vocal style is disarming, a bit small and little girlish on first impression, but capable of great thunder and emotional depth. Like Marshall's corpus, the songs on Reilly's debut, Arc of Tessa, are tinged with folk and country, but she doesn't have the same tendency toward gothicism or fragmentation. Instead, Reilly explores fragile melodies above an underlying stew of light dissonance, marking off passages with Foljahn's graceful gestures -- a lazy country guitar lick or a plucked mandolin or the sigh of a lap steel. Overall, Reilly achieves a balance of tension and cool beauty that's affecting without ever becoming all-consuming.