Danger Mouse Helms Gorgeous "Hearts" for Norah Jones

(mp34fun)

Norah Jones has rebooted the folk-jazz sound she sported on four hit albums with the inventive and fresh new Little Broken Hearts.
The atmospheric, rhythmic new sound on the album is an extension of her collaboration with producer Danger Mouse, who first recorded together as part of last year's Rome album.


That album, the soundtrack to an imaginary film, also featured the work of Italian composer Daniel Lippi and rocker Jack White. Only intermittently engaging, Rome nonetheless proved a chance encounter that has resulted in an astute blend of Jones' sultry voice and love of melodic balladry with Mouse's agility with expansive soundscapes and funky rhythmic underpinnings.

Wisely, Mouse has kept the emphasis on Jones's gorgeous voice, doing little more than adding a bit of echo. The musical arrangements are otherwise spare but effectively integrate guitar and drums as well as organs and bass that are felt as much as heard. All this sonic splendor would be but gravy were the songs not solid and alluring.

Like the sturdy collection of pop songs that it is, Little Broken Hearts succeeds as both a beautiful set of sad love songs and a song cycle about the end of a relationship. From the opener, "Good Morning", where Jones seems to be waking up for the first time alone, to closer "All a Dream", which finds her ready to put another failed romance behind her, there is a sense of a story building up to an inevitable, unhappy ending that can't help but repeatedly draw the listener in.

There are so many lovely, memorable tracks on the album, it seems almost churlish to complain. However, it is worth mentioning "Miriam", the one track I fear may draw more attention that it merits. On this sparely arranged track, Jones confronts the other woman in an icy tone that would be more effective if the death threat was implied instead of verbalized. The result is a jarring moment that is more distracting that it should be. Not as painful as hearing Madonna hector "Die, bitch!" on her new album, it nonetheless strikes as a calculated move to appear edgy, something Jones is unlikely to achieve. Instead, the subtle, dynamic work she has done with Danger Mouse on her wonderful new album says far more about giving her an edge, as in advantage, in her effort to revive her sound and in the process, her image. Those who are truly tough need not raise their voice nor issue threats to be convincing.