Aimee-Jo Benoit (vocals); Sheldon Zandboer (keys); Simon Fisk (bass); Robin Tufts (drums).
Four Canadians who got together at the wake of a dear friend and ultimately became a finely honed unit.
Benoit, as befits most of the material, has a voice as contemporary as the songs without losing the jazz feel that grants her admission to the hallowed grounds of BSH.
I knew some of the songs well, some slightly and some not at all with the common denominator being how much I discovered from each of them - even those I thought I knew well!
I must have heard The Beatles' version of Norwegian Wood many many times without any of the words, apart from the opening line, registering. Thanks to Aimee-Jo, the inane tune (file it alongside Yellow Submarine) now made sense and at least here it is no longer inane!
Other gems include Kurt Cobain's All Apologies; Joni's This Flight Tonight (some scatting); Alfie (move over Cilla and Cher); Midnight Sun (faster than norm over a Latin beat) and Repetition by one Michael K. Feuerstack with a great opening couple of lines:
I'd like to think I could quit you anytime,
But you're not a cigarette or a glass of wine.
Exquisite Corpse is perhaps the most enigmatic lyric. Has she killed him or is it a dramatisation of the end of an affair?
The accompanying Trio Velocity are very much an integral part of the recording. The interplay between voice and bass on most numbers is outstanding and keyboards and drums are equally important both solowise and in support.
Well worth checking out.
Lance
No comments :
Post a Comment