Neneh Cherry resurfaces after a 16-year solo recording hiatus and teams up with Scandinavian free jazz trio the Thing for an adventurous set of covers and originals. Cherry, 48, was ahead of her time with “Raw Like Sushi” in 1989, so it is no surprise the disc is diverse and demanding. The quartet reinvents songs from such disparate acts as Suicide, the Stooges, Martina Topley-Bird, and the singer’s stepfather, the late Don Cherry. It’s an intricate and expansive collaboration. Bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Paal Nissen-Love roil beneath saxophonist Mats Gustafsson's sonorous bursts. Cherry appropriates MF Doom’s lyrics for “Accordion’’ and spits out syllables with wit and swagger. For all of the scorching discordance (Gustafsson’s ambitious “Sudden Movement”), there are also passages of divine lyricism (“Golden Heart,” “What Reason”). A welcome return. (Out Tuesday)

ESSENTIAL “Dream Baby Dream”