On On a Clear Night, Higgins manages to toe the perfect line between playful, heartfelt, and above all, intimate, even when she’s getting down. The repetition of lines (“it’s not my fault; it can’t be my fault”), slightly off rhymes (“I follow complications like a bloodhound/So pick me up, twist me round, and throw me all the way back down”) and the twist of Higgins’ strong accent and that unusual lilt at the end of her lines, makes On a Clear Night an original offering.
Tag: music
The Search for Home: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Red Earth
Red Earth is a very special recording: it offers joy and thought, African and African-American music, and a woman’s claiming her own power and recognizing the truth—the joy and the suffering—in the world.
Dark Androgyne: Ephraim Lewis, Skin (The 15th anniversary)
Ephraim Lewis, in music, might have been an ideal for many others (he is that for me): a being of force and sensitivity, able to reconcile sophistication and soul, a being with an eye for reality and a heart for dreams, able to embody in music contradictions without being destroyed by their conflicts, the dark androgyne.
Reconciliations: Anoushka Shankar and Karsh Kale, Breathing Under Water
Each has spoken of how natural their collaboration has been, allowing them to explore new aspects of their talents, while making a statement about how complementary different forms of music are: on Breaking Under Water, she, as composer and instrumentalist, handled some of the electronic productions and worked as a pianist, and he composed, and played guitar, drums, and even sang.
There Is No Cure for Human Nature: Donnie, The Daily News
Sometimes gospel singers slur their words as part of their technique, a changed diction suggesting a changed spirit; and Donnie has identified some gospel singers as his antecedents: Rance Allen, Darryl Coley, John P. Kee, and James Moore. Donnie’s social imagination harkens back to Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and Sly Stone; and, amazingly, he does not suffer in comparison. However, he does not want to be—and is not—a nostalgia act.
Self-conscious Beauty and Contemplation: The Shepherd’s Dog, by Iron and Wine, featuring Sam Beam
With its somewhat ominous beginning, I had hoped that “Peace Beneath the City” might give a surprise—but it seems little more than atmosphere, intriguing atmosphere but merely atmosphere, although the lyrics seem to be intricate and about many deaths, with bodies buried beneath the city.
Lovely Lady and Singer: Amel Larrieux, Lovely Standards
I am glad that Amel Larrieux has made Lovely Standards, a recording that will not ignite a revolution in the arts, in the churches and temples, or in the streets: however, it can inspire delight, and even thought, in the listener. How often do we need less beauty in the world?
The Capitulation to, and Challenge of, Belief: Sinead O’Connor, Theology
It is an interesting idea to produce more than one version of a song for the public, something artists have been doing more and more in the last two decades. Sometimes, as here, the difference in instrumentation and interpretation allows the listener to get a sense of how many doors there can be into an experience, and how supple a perception can be.
Difference Is No Threat: Angelique Kidjo, Djin Djin
Angelique Kidjo is a dynamic, intelligent, and intense performer; and with Djin Djin Angelique Kidjo may be posed to consolidate and expand her popularity. Certainly, the musicians she has chosen to work with suggests a diversity of artistic interests and musical constituencies.
Cowboy Junkies, At the End of Paths Taken
The songs on At the End of Paths Taken attempt to suggest the complexities—complications and contradictions, coincidences and correspondences—that are to be found in an individual mind, in a relationship, in a society. That is a respectable mission, but it is not as unusual as I have sometimes thought—it may be the most lasting goal of serious, modern artists.