Mopping Up Karma is a flashback of sorts, a return to material Judith Owen started in Los Angeles in 1998 with Glen Ballard and Clifton Magness for a Java Records album that didn’t come out. Nothing on the album sounds a decade old, partially because the tracks were finished and revised with vocals and other parts re-recorded by John Fischbach at Piety Street Recording. The lyrics, too, follow Happy This Way in the way they depict someone at peace with her demons, someone who’s found the comfort of being sad—and someone more interested in the peace and comfort than the drama.

The cover depicts Owen in front of a rich, red drape in an elaborate dress, complete with cinched waist and oversized skirt. The theatrical dimension of her art highlighted by the photo is front and center here, and the jazz chanteuse takes a back seat. Her song sense and ability to involve listeners in her persona are as present here as they are on any of her recent albums, though oddly, this new album of old material makes more sense if you know Here and Happy This Way, the albums that preceded it.