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Norah Jones
The Fall
(Blue Note)
First Appeared in The Music Box, December 2009, Volume 16, #12
Written by John Metzger
Thu December 10, 2009, 06:30 AM CST
Four albums into her career, Norah Jones has opted to alter her course
dramatically rather than continuing to try competing with the Grammy-winning
success of her debut Come Away with Me. The darkened corners of her 2007
set Not Too Late offered hints that changes were afoot. Yet, the endeavor
also contained indications that maybe she was hedging her bets instead of wiping
the slate clean.
With her latest outing The Fall, however, it’s clear that Jones has
every intention of upending her musical world completely. She still purrs and
coos through her lyrics, but she also sets aside her gentle, lounge-jazz style
in favor of arrangements that are moodier and more foreboding. The
instrumentation that surrounds her voice exchanges some of the intimacy upon
which she had staked her career for ambient, guitar-driven grooves that are
designed not only to fill bigger performance spaces but also to give her room to
grow. At least, this was the plan. Unfortunately, the end result is that The
Fall is too flawed to be called an unmitigated success.
Without a doubt, Jones should be commended for trying something new and
different rather than eking out an endless stream of albums that collectively
adhere to a familiar blueprint but ultimately fail to move her artistic vision
forward. It is somewhat odd to hear Jones deliver the material that lines The
Fall. Old habits die hard, and throughout the endeavor, she often settles
into her usual vocal patterns, despite the other changes she made to her
approach. This causes her singing to stand at odds with the music that envelopes
her, and consequently, Jones never quite feels comfortable in her new clothes.
This effect may, in fact, have been intentional. Instead of the political
viewpoints she expressed on Not Too Late, The Fall deals directly
with the aftermath of Jones’ personal and professional breakup with longtime
collaborator Lee Alexander. With its jagged contours, the music is meant to
capture the turbulence and turmoil of her ordeal. Lacing slinky, R&B grooves
with New Wave-imbued angst as well as rumbling atmospherics, she essentially
blurs the line between Tom Waits and Elvis Costello. Although this isn’t a bad
place for Jones to have begun her transformation, she never manages to move
beyond these points of reference. Instead, she frequently settles for generic,
nondescript arrangements that ultimately weigh her down. The tempos and moods of
her songs change little from track to track, and the monochromatic routine
becomes wearisome.
Fortunately, Jones is a wonderful vocalist, and she manages to keep The
Fall from becoming a complete disaster. On songs like Chasing Pirates
and Young Blood, she appears to stand above the fray with a cool,
detached air, offering a signal, perhaps, that the only way she was able to get
past her broken heart was to shut down her emotions. Tracks like Light as a
Feather, which she penned with Ryan Adams, and the country-tinged You’ve
Ruined Me fare better because, although she still sounds lost and adrift,
the heaviness of her sorrow is more palpable.
For an album that is meant to push Jones into more adventurous terrain,
however, it’s telling that Back to Manhattan is The Fall’s best
tune. At first glance, the song is most closely aligned with those in Jones’
past, but the restrained dissonance as well as the aching cries of a pedal steel
guitar give her room to break free without forcing the issue. It’s here where
Jones lays the groundwork for her future, if only she can take a few steps back
and look at all the ways in which The Fall went wrong.  ½
Of Further Interest...
Diana Krall - The Very Best of Diana Krall
Willie Nelson / Ryan Adams - Songbird
Cassandra Wilson - Closer to You: The Pop Side
The Fall is available from
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2009 The Music Box
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