CD reviews for Nov. 20, 2009

• By JOHN WIRT
• Music writer
• Published: Nov 20, 2009

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Norah Jones

THE FALL

Singer-pianist Norah Jones collaborates with a new producer and new group of musicians for the new sound of The Fall. Her voice tastefully blurred by reverb, Jones sings with warm, relaxed presence, writing and co-writing songs that are more pop- and rock-oriented, atmospheric and bottom-heavy than those of her previous three albums.

The Fall’s producer, Jacquire King, came to singer-pianist-guitarist Jones’ attention through his engineering work for Tom Waits’ Mule Variations album. That helps explain The Fall’s dark and textured sound, achieved in part through multiple keyboards and such fairly novel instruments as glockenspiel and marimba. Three ambiance-inducing keyboard instruments color the almost brooding Jones-Ryan Adams song “Light As A Feather.” A leisurely tempo plus Wurlitzer organ played by Jones and a second organ paint the sweet and dreamy “I Wouldn’t Need You.” Hints of Jones’ country sound return in the bittersweet but gorgeous “You Ruined Me.” A recurring album theme of being stuck between tough choices appears again in “Stuck,” one of The Fall’s most spacious productions. The loping “Tell Yer Mama” is a little cowboy, a little circus.

The Fall also has a song that has the makings of a winter favorite. In the brief lyrics of “December,” the second most intimate arrangement on the CD, Jones expresses her longing for the final month of the year. Appearing on what may be the best album of her career, Jones’ beautiful “December” rivals the work of classic songsmiths Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.

The Raveonettes

IN AND OUT OF CONTROL

Sonic adventurists from Denmark, the Raveonettes, aka Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo, create more audio alchemy. The duo mixes its love of ambience and reverb with Wagner’s songwriting, his craftsmanship squarely based in classic American pop and rock ’n’ roll.

Following last year’s noisy and great Lust Lust Lust, this year’s In And Out Of Control favors songs and melody over atmospherics.

“Bang!” evokes great American girl groups of the early ’60s, especially leaders of the pack the Shangri-Las. “Gone Forever,” featuring Wagner’s reverberating guitar, could be the Raveonettes doing their take on Joey Ramone and the Fleshtones’ Peter Zaremba doing, in turn, their take on Mary Weiss and the Shangri-Las. Wagner shifts his guitar to bell-like tones for the groovy psychedelic rock of “Heart of Stone” before turning the reverb high again for the B-52s-reminiscent “Breaking Into Cars.” In And Out Of Control is more evidence that Wagner and the statuesque, bass-playing Foo are music’s coolest duo.