Madeleine Peyroux – Bare Bones
The eleven songs on Madeleine Peyroux’s Bare Bones, her fourth album, sound as though they are old ballads, yet they are all new tunes she has co-written. Like Billie Holiday, Peyroux knows how songs would like to be sung and how to make the lyrics come to life even though she interprets them in such a laid-back sensitivity. Unlike Lady Day, however, Peyroux sways us to look on the shinier side of life.
Stripping the emotional core down to its bare bones, Peyroux relaxes her flow as she encourages us to do the same with our lives. “Stop all this talk / Turn off the telephone / Open up another bottle,” she advises on “River of Tears.” “Instead of acting crazy chasin’ things that make you mad / Keep your heart ahead it’ll lead you back to what you have,” she suggests on “Instead.” On “Homeless Happiness,” she sounds like she had lived it: “A bench by the shore a coat for my pillow / A future with no guarantee / The world was a rat race and I had my fill oh / No hurries no worries for me.”
Except for “You Can’t Do Me,” the only track that gets a notch of rock up, the fantastic instrumentations allowed her words to shine through. Producer Larry Klein doesn’t allow the accompaniments to overshadow Peyroux’s hypnotic vocals. As a result, Bare Bones is a perfect record for kicking back, slowing down and enjoying life.
“Like Billie Holiday, Peyroux knows how songs would like be sung and how to make the lyrics come to life even though she interprets them in such a laid-back sensitivity.”
Similar to Lady Day, (my understanding is that) Peyroux has a fairly humble beginning herself: her music career started on the street of Paris, I believe.
Perhaps that experience has given her some hard-earned insights into how music should be intepreted.
Look forward to getting this album.
Me too, I will definitely get this cd. Love her “Careless Love” cd (out awhile back). I still listen to it occasionally. Peyroux knows how to re-do old famous songs (by Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan…) and make them her own. Her phrasing is very similar to Billie Holiday. Seems like she means every word she sings. Just wish one new Viet singer can do something like Peyroux when trying to do old songs. Her co-wrote songs are good too very personal.
Thanks Donny
For those in the DC Metro/NoVa area, Peyroux will be at Lisner auditorium on 6/20/2009:
http://www.lisner.org/eventdetails.asp?id=514