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Norah Jones

“The Fall”

November 2009; Blue Note Records

By Emily J Ramey

Click Here to See the Published Version on American Music Channel

Those of us immersed in the music world knew Norah Jones from her debut album Come Away With Me, which blew up after it claimed no less than five Grammy awards back in 2002, and despite the release (and commercial success) of two subsequent albums, we still think of her with that jazzy “Don’t Know Why” on her lips.  However, on her most recent effort, The Fall, Jones has made a point of starting over and stepping out.

If you think Norah Jones sounds a little different on this album than any of her previous work, you’d be spot on, because Norah Jones is a new woman these days.  She and her longtime boyfriend – who also filled the roles of co-writer and bassist of her band – split up at the end of her last world tour, and she’s clearly in a different place.

But let me clarify here, different means good…, really good.  Everything that we loved about Norah is still there: her mellow, smoky vocals, charmingly lyrical songs, and natural musicianship.  However, we sense a new fiery attitude in Jones, who poses in a feathery Victorian gown and tilted black top hat, smirking coyly and showing off her cute new pixie cut, on the cover of her fourth LP.  The singer/songwriter hired on tight session musicians, including guitarist Marc Ribot and drummer Joey Waronker, to record with her, and modified her sound a bit – flawlessly transitioning from her signature jazz acoustic pop to this new contemporary folk rock on The Fall.

The single, “Chasing Pirates,” starts off the album with a smooth, rich flow and crafty lyrics like, “Now I’m having the squeams, while the silliest things/Are flapping around in my brain/And I try not to dream of the impossible schemes,/That swim around, wanna drown me in sync.”  “Light As a Feather,” cowritten with well-known folk fiend Ryan Adams, is a subtle acoustic masterpiece, deliberate and notably paradoxical: “We’re light as a feather/Heavy as the weather/If it was raining stones.”  “It’s Gonna Be” is the highlight of the album: it’s groovy and somehow dusty, if you know what I mean… just a little distorted in that old dive bar accompaniment kind of way.  “Back to Manhattan” sounds just like the best of bluesy Bonnie Raitt, sedate and effortless, soft and low.  Country-influenced “Stuck,” cowritten with Okkervil River’s Will Sheff, is a sturdy melody that contradicts the pair’s tender, broken-hearted lyrics.  And “Man of the Hour” is totally in the style of fellow female crooner Fiona Apple, its sparse instrumentation and playful lyrics closing the album with a delicate triumph, its opening lines sharp and quirky: “It’s him or me/That’s what he said/But I can’t choose/Between a vegan and a pot head/So I chose you, because you’re sweet and you give me lots of lovin’ and you eat meat.”

So Norah Jones has reinvented herself.  She’s strayed from her slightly swoon-y, silver-tongued jazz goddess bit and flourished into a full and velvety contemporary rock knockout, and as much as I loved those mild, piano-infused ballads, I could really get used to Norah’s brand new tune.

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