Anjani Thomas
Blue Alert
(Columbia)
First Appeared in The Music Box, June 2006, Volume 13, #6
Written by John Metzger
Over the course of the past 20 years, Anjani Thomas’ role with fabled
Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen has shifted slowly but surely from that
of a backing musician to that of a full-blown accomplice. On Cohen’s 2004
endeavor Dear Heather, she not only played piano, but she also sang as
his equal and co-wrote a pair of songs, all of which served as a prelude to her
major label debut Blue Alert. Produced by Cohen and filled with material
that was sculpted from an array of his leftover lyrical fragments, the album’s
wispy, cabaret-inflected atmosphere is bolstered as much by Thomas’ sad yet
sultry vocals as it is by the duo’s weighty words. Only Nightingale truly
falls flat, largely because it is played so straight that it succumbs completely
to its pristine softness and shrugs off the emotional residue that clings
tightly to the remainder of the affair. By swerving from the smoky jazz
inflections of the title track to the mysterious sensuality of No One after
You and from the ethereal bossa nova groove of Half the Perfect World
to the haunting, country-soul arrangement of Never Got to Love You,
Thomas and Cohen succeed in keeping the minimalist, melancholy flavor of Blue
Alert from becoming overly claustrophobic. The results frequently are as
intriguing as they are subtle, and as the collection’s elegant warmth clashes
with its air of heartbroken yearning, Thomas’ beckoning siren song becomes
impossible to resist. 
Of Further Interest...
Diana Krall - The Very Best of Diana Krall
Blue Alert is available from Barnes & Noble.
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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 © 2006 The Music Box