In Brief

* * 1/2 Brenda Kahn, “Epiphany in Brooklyn,” Chaos/Columbia. On most of this guitar-strumming troubadour’s first major-label album, producer David Kahne has stifled the spunk that makes the two cuts produced by the artist herself (“I Don’t Sleep, I Drink Coffee Instead” and “Mint Juleps and Needles”) so invigorating. Behind the pallid production, Kahn delivers her witty, thoughtful lyrics in a sometimes whiny, though not insufferable, voice.