As Cat Power, Chan Marshall has simply smoldered in recent years. Originally a downcast indie rocker, she took a turn on 2006’s “The Greatest” to explore a more soulful shade of her blues. Marshall made a convincing, and compelling, torch singer — a Julie London for the young and the restless.

The latest Cat Power record, however, shelves the ornate orchestrations for a visceral new direction. “Sun,” her first album of original material in six years, is as bright as its namesake. Ripe with propulsive tempos, drum machines, and electronic embellishments, the album sounds like nothing else she’s ever done. And it’s pretty irresistible.