The arrangements are just as bold, and occasionally disorienting. On the deceptively languid “Tomorrow,” the dreamy vocals give way to an urgently funky call-and-response section that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Parliament-Funkadelic jam. On “Baby,” her wailing multi-tracked vocals serve as a backdrop for the bumping bass and skittering keyboards. On “Short and Sweet,” her idiosyncratic phrasing, rapturous tone and stripped-down vulnerability conjure Nina Simone. “Run to Me” folds its message of reassurance inside an ominous, reverberating soundscape, Howard’s voice nearly unrecognizable until it bursts into an operatic declaration: “I will be your partner when you can’t stand it anymore.”