Monday November 9, 2009
Edgier tunes
By S. INDRAMALAR
Norah Jones ventures into new territory in her latest album The Fall.
IT seemed like the universe had something against me interviewing jazz wunderkind Norah Jones.
First of all, the telephone interview from New York was scheduled for 9am, at an hour when I am usually not ready to sound quite coherent. Then it was re-scheduled ... a couple of times. And, when it finally happened (at 9.25am), the connection was so bad I could only make out every other sentence she spoke, most times.
Different groove: For her new CD, Norah Jones switched from piano to guitar and engaged a different set of collaborators. As a result, The Fall is edgier, has harder grooves and is a departure from the jazz-pop-country style that Jones is known for. Thank goodness, Jones is as nice as she seems and didn’t seem to mind my rueful “I beg your pardon?” or “I’m sorry, could you say that again?” – there must have been at least a dozen thrown out there. She even apologised for the poor connection when the interview was done.
The subject of conversation was her upcoming album, The Fall, her fourth studio effort since her phenomenal debut in 2001 (Come Away With Me won five Grammys in 2002, including one for Record of the Year and Best New Artiste – if that’s not phenomenal, what is?), which is being touted as “more indie, less country/jazz”.
The Fall is supposed to be edgier and with harder grooves and not the quintessential Norah Jones jazz-pop-country album.
“I just wanted to try new things and new sounds. I wanted variety and that meant working with new people,” she explains. “I was trying to find a partner for the record, because unless I had someone with a different perspective, I wasn’t going to get a different sound. I looked for a while before I finally looked at one of my favourite records – Mule Variations by Tom Waits – to see who engineered it, and I saw Jacquire’s name.
“I’m never going to sound like Tom Waits, but there are elements of that record that I wanted – it walks the balance between being beautiful and rough, and also sounding very natural.”
And that’s how indie rock producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Modest Mouse, Tom Waits) came into the picture – he, evidently, was just as keen to work with Jones.
“I got in touch with Jacquire ... (who) was really eager to do it and we got along really well, which was important.”
Jones also realised, hard as it would be, she needed a new group of musicians to help her get the new sounds she had in her head.
“I’d been playing with the same musicians for a long time. We’re all still friendly and I hope we play together again, but it felt like a good time to work with new people.
“I had a small list of people whom I have admired over the years and they’re people I’ve come to trust. We worked together for about a month, figuring out what we wanted and it’s been challenging but also a lot of fun,” Jones shares.
The motley stable of talent she and King lined up includes Will Shef (Okkervil River) and Ryan Adams (Whiskeytown) whom she recruited to co-write some of the tunes; drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green) and guitarists Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) and Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer).
The only one from her old bunch was Jesse Harris, a frequent collaborator with Jones and the one who wrote her big hit Don’t Know Why.
New producer, new musicians, new sounds – it isn’t all that surprising that Jones has replaced her piano with her guitar.
“Actually,” she says, “I’ve always written more on guitar than on piano. The thing that’s really different this time is that I drove the rhythm more, because what I play on the guitar are rhythm parts. When I play the piano, I don’t really play rhythm, I just sort of sprinkle over the top,” she explains.
Jones is pleased with the result. The Fall, she reckons, just shows a different side of her. But will her fans still recognise her?
“Urmmm, I don’t know (if I sound that different). Maybe a little more playful ... it’s just a different side of my personality,” says Jones.
“I think some people will be surprised by some of the songs and some won’t. But I think what’s really important is that it’s from the heart ... it’s honest.”
Though she holds her fans in high regard, Jones isn’t stressing herself out about the reception her album will get, or whether she will sell millions of records in a snap as she has in the past. She isn’t even anxious about critics’ reactions, though she’s had to deal with some not-so-kind criticism in the past – she’s been given the monicker “Snorah” by some critics.
Jones also isn’t prophesying her chances at next year’s Grammys either.
“I try really hard not to think about it (the Grammys she won). I mean, in my day-to-day life ... I don’t think about it at all. I think it’s important not to,” she says.
You know, she isn’t being falsely modest. Right from the start, Jones made it quite clear that she wasn’t comfortable living out her life in the spotlight.
After the euphoria of victory settled in back in 2002, Jones made a conscious decision to scale down her publicity to avoid getting caught up in the post-win hoopla.
In an interview last year, the Texas-born, New York-based crooner recounted her reaction to the success of her first album: “I got so overwhelmed. I felt over-exposed, and I was like, ‘Stop the presses! Let it die!’,” she told The Daily Mail.
Despite her success – she’s got four albums to her name (Come Away With Me in 2002, Feels Like Home in 2004, Not Too Late in 2007 and now, The Fall), sold more than 36 million records and has starred opposite Hollywood A-lister Jude Law in Wong Kar Wai’s My Blueberry Nights (and she got to kiss Law, too).
Jones is almost never featured in the numerous gossip rags. Even her break-up with long-time boyfriend/ bassist Lee Alexander last year was a quiet affair. The two are still good friends, although Alexander is missing from the line-up of musicians on The Fall.
In past interviews, Jones candidly explains that she isn’t hounded by the paparazzi simply because she doesn’t seek them out.
“I don’t dress, talk or act famous,” she told Britain’s The Sunday Times in an interview last year. And, “I just do not see the point of being ‘out there’ or behaving outrageously. It will bring nothing but trouble.”
Though she thoroughly enjoyed her dalliance with celluloid, Jones is a little hesitant about whether she will try acting again.
“It’s hard work. Even harder for me because I am not an actress. But it was a lot of fun and ... will I do it again? I don’t know... we’ll see. But I’m not in any rush,” she says.
For now, Jones is content to sit back and watch The Fall go down with her legions of fans. If her first single, Chasing Pirates – which I’ve had a chance to listen to — is anything to go by, Jones may soon be able to shake off the rather unkind monicker.
The Fall will be released by Warner Music Malaysia on Nov 17.
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