The You and The Now: Jorane's Chamber Pop of the Mind
Written: Aug 27 '06 (Updated Apr 28 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Interesting soundscapes, voice and cello explorations.
Cons: Some lyrics are head scratchers.
The Bottom Line: Jorane is an artist deserving of some attention from music fans; she has an original voice and, hopefully, a future outside of the Great White North.
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| MiDoyle's Full Review: The You And The Now [Digipak] by Jorane |
Not quite the chamber pop some might anticipate when learning Canadian singer-songwriter Jorane plays the cello, The You and Now [2005, Six Degrees Records/Aquarius Records] is chamber music all right: the chamber of the mind. At times classical, other times ambient, with hints of the avant-garde and also out of left field, the album is, overall, a solid American debut. Her sixth album is one of the off-kilter pickups for music fans that test drive albums on in-store players. There’s something about it that’s more inviting than not.
Jorane’s lyrical ideas are a mix of the autobiographical and the imagined, almost always about a connection of some sort, though she does have some odd transitions in her English, and some ideas don’t necessarily hold together as a whole. Consequently, the really impressive part of her music is her cinematic writing style; music that rides waves of emotion, partly aggressive, at times submissive. Some of the music here has appeared on earlier works, but the American audience will view her as a blank slate.
Highlights
On two tracks, Film II and Film IV her wordless vocalizations add an edge of mystery and eroticism to the proceedings to good effect. Fragile is made all the more emotional with its piano opening and plucked cello, as the song slowly builds to explore the bonds formed through love ties, a self-defined family.
The two French songs are really spectacular in spots. Pour Gabrielle and Pour Ton Souire, a duet that Daniel Lanois describes as a “lovely song about exchange” are both delivered with true emotional context within the music.
Jorane’s whacked out of left-field cover of the disco classic I Feel Love has to be heard to be believed. It’s the oddest cover I would think a cellist would ever attempt, but it works perfectly with a sense of play, erotic thought, and the idea of it as a strange commentary on the self.
Clearly, with The You and Now, Jorane is intent on establishing herself as an artist first; she can really tackle anything. That’s not to say she has any missteps: Blue Planet which mixes imagery of slaves and love in a kind of sci-fi mash up seems out of place within the rest of the album: the self, search for love, connection, and disillusionment with the process. Likewise, Red Mountain, a love song written from the perspective of observing a lover at sleep gets a bit off track in the imagery and becomes a tad too goofy midway through.
Other tracks with merit include the lovely Roll the Stars, a melancholic Good Luck and Am I the Sky, a sort of existentialist take on the reported last words of Alcide Painchaud, a friend’s father.
An aspect of the album that I really liked was Jorane’s attention to the musical soundscapes around her voice and cello whether it done as a solo piece or with a mix of spotty guitar, some ambient textures, strings (the Turtle Island String Quartet appears on five tracks), and horn colorations.
The You and Now is not the most spectacular “debut” as it were, but it certainly points to Jorane as an “artist” worth paying some attention to. Jorane is at her best when she writes in either very simple terms, or when she goes to the other extreme of ambiguity. It will be interesting how she bridges the expectations between the two extremes. She is an original voice in what she is doing and I expect to hear more of her in the future (three stars).
Tracks
1. Stay (Jorane/S. Wilcox)
2. Film III (Jorane)
3. Fragile(Jorane/S. Myrow)
4. Blue Planet (Jorane/S. Wilcox)
5. Pour Gabrielle (Jorane)
6. I Feel Love (P. Bellotte/G. Moroder/D. Summer)
7. Roll the Stars (Jorane/S. Wilcox)
8. Good Luck (Jorane/L. Germano)
9. Pour Ton Souire (D. Lanois)
10. Red Mountains (Jorane/S. Wilcox)
11. Come Back Again (Jorane/S. Wilcox)
12. The Cave (Jorane/S. Mynow)
13. Film IV (Jorane)
14. Am I the Sky (Jorane/S. Wilcox)
Total Time: 62:33
Produced by Michael Brook (except tracks 2 and 5 produced by Jorane).
Musicians
Jorane (cello, vocals, guitar, upright bass, 6-string bass, CS80, piano), with The Turtle Island String Quartet, Daniel Lanois (electric guitar, vocals, ukulele, percussion, stomp), Jason Lewis (drums, percussion), Richard Evans (bass, programming), Michael Brook (guitar, bass), Dave Palmer (piano), Eloi Painchaud (guitar), and others.
This enhanced CD also includes 2 files of different sizes containing the video for Por Ton Souire, plus a press kit for Jorane including performance clips, interviews, etc.
Sources
www.jorane.com
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/03/31/derk.DTL
www.allmusic.com
www.sixdegreesrecords.com
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Romancing
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MiDoyle
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Member: Michael Doyle
Location: Morris County, NJ
Reviews written: 506
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About Me:
Schadenfreude is worth living for.
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