Album review: Norah Jones, 'The Fall'
Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 4)
Though Norah Jones sings that “My mind’s racing,” you wouldn’t know that’s a problem on her fourth studio album, “The Fall” (Blue Note). Pacing has always been an issue for Jones. Though her 2007 album “Not Too Late” was peppered with some uncharacteristically tart socio-political commentary, her perpetually languid vocal style and unhurried arrangements suggested that she was contemplating nothing more strenuous than finding the correct position on her couch for a late-afternoon nap.
Her self-effacing musical disposition has its merits: Her light, subtle touch is a rarity in the boom-bap-bling world of pop. It was alluring enough to turn her 2002 debut, “Come Away With Me,” into a runaway success. But two albums later, Jones correctly sensed staleness settling in and shuffled her collaborators for “The Fall.” Most of the songs are built on her guitar rather than piano, she adds Ryan Adams and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff to her songwriting team, and new producer Jacquire King (who has worked with Tom Waits, Kings of Leon and Modest Mouse) brings a slightly more adventurous rhythmic tack. At times, Jones sings over a bed of noise – gentle, undulating and amorphous, but noise nonetheless. Those production effects add a thin layer of tension, like a mild case of vertigo as the singer goes (gently) round and round pondering the unanswerable: “When will I ever learn?” “Why can’t you believe/How much you really mean?”
A handful of songs, particularly the uncharacteristically frisky “It’s Gonna Be” and the neo-psychedelic soul ballad “You’ve Ruined Me,” suggest she’s on to something fresh and potentially exciting. But conservatism wins out, and “The Fall” is ultimately a mildly more adventurous art-pop take on her piano-based cabaret style. Here’s hoping she follows all the way through on the makeover she begins here for her next album.
greg@gregkot.com