Norah Jones claims it’s not too late to come away with her. But do we still want to?

Since her massively successful debut Come Away With Me, everything Jones has touched has turned to gold (or rather, platinum). With eight Grammy Awards and over 30 million albums sold, the southern siren has enjoyed continual success since her Wax Poetic days.

However, this past year marks a number of changes behind the scenes for Jones. Her third effort, Not Too Late, is the first album released since the death of her producer, Arif Mardin. It also marks the first time she has either written or co-written all of the songs on an album. Her label, Blue Note, didn’t even know Jones was recording an album as she penned songs on tour. Without much available information, many waited expectantly to see what Jones would do now with both pen and piano.

Not Too Late opens with acoustic guitar on “Wish I Could” as Jones croons sadly “We met in a place I used to go / Now I just walk by for show.” She showcases her lyrical talent while delving into a tale of a girl whose lover is sent off to war, and is complemented by soothing cellos. This leads into an early highlight as Jones channels Ella Fitzgerald into cabaret on “Sinkin’ Soon.” Here, her unbridled lyricism makes indie rockers The Decemberists look poetically challenged, as she sings, “In a boat built of sticks and hay / … / With a captain who’s too proud to say/That he dropped the oar.” The quirkiest track on the album, “Sinkin’ Soon” uses the mandolin to provide an atmosphere more “Moulin Rouge” than “Little House on the Prairie.”

As Not Too Late progresses, the audience notices much darker undertones previously left out of Jones’ songs. It starts feeling more like an album built in the shade, full of some tracks that just aren’t meant to see the light of day on Billboard. For example, the pop-tinged first single “Thinking About You” is full of numbing emotional clichés. The album gets saved, ironically, by its off-beat tracks. “Not My Friend,” notably experimental, may be the defining standout track on the album. Over backwards electric guitars that sound as if she wandered into a Sigur Ros recording session, the sparse piano orchestration coheres naturally with her childhood tale.

Though her language is undoubtedly poetic, songs like “Until The End” and “Wake Me Up” fall flat, sounding like B-sides and lacking both the intimate qualities of her two prior efforts and the darker moods of her newer experiments. Most of the album, therefore, is hit-or-miss. What listeners shouldn’t be looking for in Not Too Late are the classic showcases of her vocal style. Instead, they should be looking for Jones to walk off the beaten path, whether in the hauntingly orchestrated political statement of “My Dear Country” or the cute tale of clumsy lovers in “Little Room.” Not Too Late will satisfy the fan base. For the casual fan, however, the album sometimes feels like one long lullaby, with only a handful of intermittent knocks at the door to wake you up.

Be aware: Not Too Late is an acquired taste that won’t prompt the same coffee house stampedes like Jones’ earlier work. And even though Jones offers some food for thought, the album leaves the listener hungry for more.