2007-05-18
The artwork on Keren Ann's latest album is simple, pure, and white. Her photo surrounded by that white, does not affect the white's purity and calmness, but blends in perfectly - Something her voice and music have already proven a long time ago.
One of Ann's trademarks is her angelic voice; you can always feel something is lying underneath it, but it remains angelic and kind of surrounded by a halo. So even when its background is the quiet guitars on "In Your Back", blanketed distorted guitars hidden in "It's All A Lie" or the dirty sounding guitar on "It Ain't No Crime", you feel a little bit like those rottweilers who's owners promise you are calm as a kitten. Doesn't matter how roaring or calm the background is, if Keren Ann's voice is hovering over it, you won't feel a thing.
There have been a lot of remarks about the album being self-titled. As usually only debuting artists or those with creativity blocks use their name as the album's name. But here, it is quite simple and clear, Keren probably wanted her name standing out on her best piece ever, without any meaningless words hanging around it. And maybe, this album is just about that, that all you'll hear here, is simply and purely, her.
You won't find a revolution in her music on this one, but you will hear her perfecting what she has been working on for a long time. The new album sounds much more loyal to who she is, both lyrically and musically. The songs (music and lyrics) are much more upfront, direct and personal.
Even though it was recorded in about 11 different studios worldwide, this record sounds exactly like home. It begins with a single chord, separated in only matter of seconds from the rest of the song, like a guitar amp that has just been turned on, and then a microphone joins. It feels as if she and her band are now guests in your own private room. And then - the first lyrics, "the lips of time\they kiss again\ when I walk alone, into the night". Such a great line to start of such a personal-feeling album.
The arrangements on the album are somewhat surprising. The more frontal guitar parts, the variety of instruments and genuine parts they play, it's a depth she always had, but with a twist. It could be either quiet or intimate in songs like "Where No Endings End" or rich and lively feeling like in "Lay Your Head Down" or a hypnotizing instrumental, like the closing track "Caspia".
While singer-songwriters become more and more common each day, and it's getting harder and harder to tell them apart from one another, Keren Ann is her own kind. Her voice, her touch, is hers and hers alone, and could've never been someone else's. And while every artist is easily tagged for who his influential artists are, Keren Ann is influenced by her lifestyle and her own beautiful and unique characteristics.
Roy Povarchik
