We Play that Now

Sifting through a pile of old New Yorkers, David found Sasha Frere-Jones's article on singer/songwriter Keren Ann ("A Clear View," 12.13.2004). Frere-Jones—or his editor—has a knack for finding great subjects, even though I often wish that he would give his profiles and reviews a bit more of an analytical edge and show us what's going on beneath the surface. That being said, his profile of Keren Ann is a nice introduction to her work and focuses, in particular, on her English-language album "Nowhere to Go," which I have had on heavy rotation this morning. Linguistic crossover seems to come naturally to Keren Ann, who was raised in Israel, Holland, and France and has lived on-and-off in NYC. One reviewer referred to her as "a veritable polyglot," an apt description of her oeuvre, which draws on a wide range of cultural and linguistic musical influences.

In the United States or South Korea, people consider me to be a French singer...And that's OK with me. After all, I’ve been living in France for twenty years now! Having said that, though, I don’t feel I need to be any particular nationality to make music. I'm someone who can never stay put and live in one place. I actually have Russian, Dutch, Israeli and Indonesian relatives, but that has nothing to do with the music I listen to. I appreciate all kinds of music, from Irish folk to Brazilian sounds. But I think it’s true to say that the fact my ancestors come from such diverse backgrounds has obviously had some bearing on who I am and what I do.

In late 2003, Keren Ann and Bardi Johannsson of the Icelandic band Bang Gang collaborated on a concept album titled "Lady and Bird," which tells the story of two lost creatures who inhabit human bodies in order experience "earthly pleasures" and find each other as "Keren Ann" and "Bardi Johannsson." This encounter of "two lost souls" precipitates the creation of a magical musical world, "dont la douceur et l'innocence font penser à celui des enfants." "Lady and Bird," like "Nowhere to Go," explores the exhilirating freedom of speaking in another voice (or language) while keeping a gentle grasp on the price one pays for this kind of displacement, "the feeling of going nowhere" ("Do What I Do"). What results is some of the most stunning vocals I have heard since Ronit Shachar's "Shalom le-tamimut." Keren Ann will be in NYC this weekend at South Paw (Brooklyn) and The Knitting Factory (Manhattan). If you miss these performances, you can catch her again in March at Joe's Pub. Happy New Year.