sun 06/10/2024

CD: Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts | reviews, news & interviews

CD: Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts

CD: Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts

Easy listening, but easy to love too

Norah Jones's Little Broken Hearts

Well, this is lovely. Low-down-and-lazy country-soul grooves, a bit of Morricone, a bit of Nancy'n'Lee, a sprinkling of Southern Gothic, and through it all Norah Jones's satin voice delivering tidy little narratives tied up in gently insinuating melodic hooks. Jones has been accused many times of making latterday easylistening, music that's nothing more than analgesic, but there's always been more too her than that. 

Yes, sometimes it's just sweet whimsy, but as often as not, there's a bittersweet tang to the simple lyrics, a Carver short story sense of offstage drama. It could be tempting to say that it's got a “Lynchian” undertow, too – after all, producer / co-writer Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton has previously collaborated with David Lynch himself, and there's more than a hint of Chris Isaak twang to it at times – but really it's not that wilfully dark, just absorbed in the standard painful tangles of life and love, as in the perfectly drawn triangle in the couplet “Does she make you happy? / I'd like to see you happy” (“She's 22”). 

Maybe it is all a bit impeccably tasteful and easy, but in many ways its lightness is its most potent weapon – compared to the endlessly tiresome Lana Del Rey, who clogs up similar source material with clunking trip-hop beats, hamfisted film-noir theatricality and not-being-very-good-at-singing, it floats into the back of your brain rather than battering its way into your immediate attention, and the puzzling musical and emotional memories that linger are all the more valuable for that. To paraphrase John Waters: “Lovely is not enough... but it's a start!”

Watch the video for "Happy Pills"

Follow @JoeMuggs on Twitter


Maybe it is all a bit impeccably tasteful and easy, but in many ways its lightness is its most potent weapon.

rating

Editor Rating: 
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)

Explore topics

Share this article

Add comment

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters