Graham Reid | | 1 min read
Chambermaid
From time to time Elsewhere will single out a recent release we recommend on vinyl, like this which comes in a gatefold sleeve with lyrics and credits. And is available on white vinyl.
Check out Elsewhere's other Recommended Record picks . . .
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Some artists soar like bright flares across the sky and immediately engage our attention, but then their light dims and – while they don't exactly fade or fizzle out -- they just aren't there for most of us.
Anyone remember Tanita Tikaram?
Like Tikaram, Rickie Lee Jones, Tracey Chapman and Joan Armatrading who also enjoyed sudden and deserving attention early in their careers (and mostly carried on with fine work just beyond the spotlight), American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega's career slipped to the margins in the absence of further hits and just eight studio albums in 30 years since her self-titled debut in 1985.
In the late 1980s, Vega arrive in a flash on the back of two albums and memorable singles Marlena on the Wall, Luka, Solitude Standing and her a cappella Tom's Diner, all delivered in a distinctive, emotionally flat manner.
If she faded from sight the very good news is she – who never went away – is back on Flying With Angels, her first studio album in nine years.
It's the album to return for as she reflects uneasily on where we are at, kicking off with the guitar jangle folk-pop of Speaker's Corner: “The doomsday prophet whose words have all come true . . . all those full of wind and air . . . promising the miracles and pocketing the cash”.
She turns to the Russian invasion of Ukraine (“God himself was on the last train frightened by all he was seeing” on the spare Last Train From Mariupol), celebrates Lucinda Williams on Lucinda (“cowboy slouch, stage star amble, I love her 'cause she's blunt and humble”) and cheekily spins off on a tangent from Bob Dylan's I Want You on the clever Chambermaid.
Vega pulls in elements of Seventies soul (Love Thief), gets folk-punk on the rodent apocalypse of Rats, take you to Ireland (Galway) and touches on the transcendent in the title track: “I'm over your head, in over my own . . . I'm in a heightened state”.
If Vega has been off your radar she still has a voice, intelligent songs and the emotional reach to pull you back with this one.
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You can hear this album at Spotify. It is also available on vinyl in New Zealand through Southbound Records here.
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