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| Artist : Sylvie Lewis |
| Album : Translations-(Advance) |
| Bitrate : VBR kbps |
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+-------------------------------[Release Info]-------------------------------+
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| Label : Cheap Lullaby |
| Year : 2007 |
| Genre : Folk-Rock |
| Rip date : Jun-12-2007 |
| Store date : Jun-26-2007 |
| Size : 43,10 MB |
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+--------------------------------[Track List]--------------------------------+
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|Track Listing: |
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| 01 - Starsong 04:07 |
| 02 - Happy Like That 02:28 |
| 03 - If It Don't Come Easy 02:27 |
| 04 - Say In Touch 02:41 |
| 05 - Just You 03:03 |
| 06 - Isobel 04:19 |
| 07 - Cheap Ain't Free 03:14 |
| 08 - Something To Dream Of 03:13 |
| 09 - Old Queens, Monet And Me 03:27 |
| 10 - Death By Beauty 03:44 |
| 11 - Your Voice Carries 04:19 |
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| ───── |
| 37:02 min |
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+-------------------------------[Release Notes]------------------------------+
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| It makes sense that Sylvie Lewis' music projects continental qualities. |
| Born and raised in Great Britain, she has lived in America, Switzerland, |
| Spain and currently resides in Italy. Listening to her music, it's easy |
| to imagine her singing in a stylish cafΘ society nightclub on either |
| side of the Atlantic. There's also a timelessness to her cabaret-style |
| jazz that makes it sound like it could have existed anytime between the |
| '30s to the present. She starts off her sophomore outing with the |
| snappily paced "Starsong...What Became of Us," one of several tunes that |
| examines a love affair that didn't end well. Lewis then slows down the |
| pace with the melancholic "Happy Like That." On this Roches-recalling |
| tune, she namedrops Jobim and Johnny Cash while telling off an |
| unsatisfying boyfriend ("You flirt like a married man/The way you do it |
| only the married can."). Her songs are populated with a number of |
| winning bon mots. In "Say in Touch," she describes a man's relationship |
| with his mistress by saying that "He reads her like scriptures/Reads her |
| like Braille." Later, in the Bacharach-ish portrait of a carefree gal |
| pal "Cheap Ain't Free," she slips in the wonderfully colorful line: "We |
| treat a broken heart, parking ticket style/Once you've got one, you |
| can't get another for a little while." Collaborating again with Los |
| Angeles-based chamber pop-ster Richard Swift, Lewis nicely creates a |
| lush musical setting for her tunes without making it overly fussy. A |
| tango beat enlivens "Old Queens, Monet and Me," while keyboards and |
| synthesizers combine with a percussive beat to underscore the uneasy |
| tension on "Your Voice Carries." Two other tunes that are definitely |
| worth noting show up back to back midway through the disc: "Just You" |
| and "Of Course, Isabelle." The former is a gorgeous, optimistic love |
| ode, something of a rarity for this disc. On the latter, Lewis assumes |
| the voice of both a philandering man and his mistress, Isabelle. This |
| sophisticated look at an affair gone stale wouldn't feel out of place on |
| a Broadway stage. "Sophisticated," in fact, is a good word to use to |
| describe Lewis. Her music and lyrics hold a charming sophistication, but |
| she also instills them with a liveliness that circumvents the tunes from |
| turning stodgy and old-fashioned. Translations builds impressively upon |
| her striking debut Tangos and Tantrums. |
| |
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