Adrien Reju brings 'unconventional love songs' to Burlap and Bean

On Valentine's Day 2014, Adrien Reju played a set of what she called "unconventional love songs" at the Fire. The singer-songwriter covered songs by Sonny Bono, Lou Reed, Skeeter Davis, and others, and the show sent her down the path that led to her second full-length album, Strange Love and the Secret Language.

"My choices for that show were a little more wacky or quirky," says Reju, who will perform a solo show Friday night at Burlap & Bean in Newtown Square. The show is presented by the Philadelphia Folksong Society.

Reju is currently based in Woodstock, N.Y., but she spent much of the '00s in Philadelphia and South Jersey. "It's where I learned the most about songwriting and made some really good friends who I will always stay in touch with," she says. "There's definitely a deep connection there for me."

None of the eight covers from the Fire show ended up making the cut for the new album, which includes five covers and five originals drawn from a large stockpile of possibilities.

"They're all under the theme of unconventional love songs," says Reju, on the phone from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where she performed at a wedding. "Originally, I was thinking of doing of an album of all covers, but since I'm still sort of new to the world, I didn't want to put myself forward as a covers artist, so I wanted to put some of my own songs on there. I think Feist had done that on her first record, so I figured, 'OK, I could do this.' "

Feist is a good reference point for Reju's sprightly and tender sound. As a singer, she has a light, youthful touch, but she favors songs with subtle complexities, whether in ones she writes or ones she covers.

For Strange Love, Reju wanted to avoid typical love songs. "I just wanted to find songs that weren't about - I don't want to say conventional, because that's too broad - but about romantic love," she says.

The album opens with David Bowie's "Soul Love," which depicts maternal, heterosexual, and divine love in sequential verses. Other covers include King Missile's "Hemophiliac of Love" (suggested by her Woodstock neighbor Carl Newman, of the New Pornographers, who guests on the track); Prince's "If I Was Your Girlfriend" (done as a duet with Zach Djanikian of Philly's the Brakes); and Elliott Smith's "Waltz No. 1" (suggested by a contributor to the PledgeMusic campaign Reju used to finance the record).

Her own compositions - the lilting, wistful "Still Not Over You," the melancholy, thoughtful "Solo Mission" - hold up to the covers.

"It's a pretty eclectic record, but it offers variety," Reju says. "It's not just about romantic love; it's about all sides of love."