The new release from Cat Power, a.k.a. Chan Marshall, opens with “The Greatest,” a song of gauzy beauty. A lament to failed ambitions, it moves with the sad gait of someone shuffling down the street after a defeat. It ends, though, before it gets started. The song itself lacks ambition and sets the tone for The Greatest, the follow-up to Cat Power’s majestic We Are Free. Much of the album sounds like a collection of unfinished sketches instead of completed songs.

The Greatest’s undoing may have been Marshall’s decision to work with experienced Memphis soul musicians. Marshall favors yearning lethargy, a preference at odds with the soul musicians’ instincts for solid beats. These musicians have perfected the pop song craft, but Marshall’s music often meanders, an approach that worked well on earlier efforts. When she surrounds herself with musicians such as guitarist Mabon “Teenie” Hodges, who made his mark playing with Al Green, it’s hard not to long for a classic verse, chorus and bridge structure — or even a shift in tempo.

The collaboration does succeed at times, for example on “Lived in Bars” with its sad verses and revved up bridge. The best songs on The Greatest, however, hark back to earlier albums. The stripped down instrumentation on “Where Is My Love” and “Hate” leave space for Marshall to express enormous power with only a momentary pause. This album has good moments, but it’s far from Cat Power’s greatest.