New music

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This article was published 03/08/2023 (1133 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

POP

Carly Rae Jepsen
The Loveliest Time (604/Schoolboy/Interscope)

Since she burst into the firmament in 2012 with the infectious, thrill-of-infatuation supernova that was Call Me Maybe, Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen has hardly put a foot wrong. A worldwide hit creates opportunity, yet pop’s galaxy is littered with the black holes of one-hit wonders who fizzled out.

Jepsen’s next act, though, was writing and writing and writing material until she got it right for her 2015 album, Emotion, hooking up with A-list producers and collaborators and then, the pièce de résistance, making a joyous video with Tom Hanks for I Really Like You. The record was a massive hit, affirmed her staying power and underlined Jepsen’s gift for expressing universal doubts, thoughts and emotions while setting them to cutting-edge and/or deliberately retro productions.

She and her team also know that her core audience will always clamour for more, so each of Jepsen’s post-Call Me albums has been followed by a companion EP or album-length collection of B-sides and additional material. Her newest record, The Loveliest Time, is another of these compendiums, a 13-song selection of tracks from the sessions that yielded last fall’s The Loneliest Time, a quasi-breakup recording which also captured the introspection and ennui of COVID.

As its title suggests, The Loveliest Time is more upbeat than its predecessor (although that record was hardly a downer), a re-emergence onto the playing field of love. These 13 songs leap on to the dancefloor immediately with opening track Anything to Be With You and don’t stop as they explore themes of playful emotional confidence (first single Shy Boy, with its catchy falsetto chorus), the flush of new love (the trippy Psychedelic Switch) and even the doubt that comes with rekindling old fires (Kollage, So Right). It’s carefully constructed, too, as Jepsen closes the album with a pair of songs that leap into a bold declaration (the stomping synth-rock of Stadium Love) before wistfully waving farewell to the past with Weekend Love. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THESE: Anything to Be With You, Shy Boy, So Right

— John Kendle

 

POP

Madeline Kenney
A New Reality Mind(Carpark Records)

Madeline Kenney’s new album is a neatly woven ethereal treatise on rebuilding after a relationship collapse.

The Oakland-based singer-songwriter fused her thoughts and music together during the pandemic, sorting through it all in a basement she once shared with her partner. The result is a lush, sonic exploration that would not be out of place on a playlist heavy with Cocteau Twins.

Such early tracks as Plain Boring Disaster and Superficial Conversation offer melodies that meander and flow as if conceived underwater. They deal with innocent missteps and the personal ability to move past them.

Kenney hits her best stride on It Carries On, a gorgeous song about working through personal pain. Musician Jeff Kolhede plays a nice featured saxophone section on this deftly mixed track.

Sudden solitude following a breakup clearly moved Kenney to explore her raw emotions through art and sound. Choosing to create and not wallow is the precise kind of process that can deliver good music in the right hands.

A New Reality Mind feels sincere and personal and hits the right emotional mark. Kudos to Kenney for her passion and vulnerability. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THIS: It Carries On

— Ron Harris, The Associated Press

 

JAZZ

François Bourassa Quartet
Swirl (Effendi)

The Quebec jazz scene is wonderfully vibrant across a wide swath of jazz moods. Many earlier Quebec albums have been reviewed here, and this one is a worthy addition to the genre. Pianist François Bourassa is a seasoned member of the Quebec scene, and this live quartet album is simply terrific. His band has André Leroux on saxophones and flute, Guy Boisvert on bass and Guillaume Pilote on drums. Recorded live at Studio Piccolo in Montreal, this is shares a complex, exploratory and adventurous experience.

This is not easy or simple music. It is intense and “serious” in the sense that it is based on thoughtful and carefully structured foundational writing with wonderful solos around that base. The interaction between the members is flawless. Each solos beautifully both within the musical chart and in literal solo moments. Prologue offers an example of a swinging tune within a challenging time signature with each member driving the tune forward relentlessly. It builds to a terrific coda. Room 58 opens with a gentle Bourassa solo that leads into an extended opportunity for each musician to offer a lush ballad.

With Costard the quartet moves solidly to the edge with a real wild ride. Then they settle down a bit with Remous that features a gorgeous bass intro by Boisvert. Throughout the album the quartet can make 4/4 time sound like 13/7 or whatever as they fly through rhythms and sections that morph into fascinating pathways. The opening track, Pooloop, (not a misprint) dances and swings with all parties, especially Bourassa and Leroux, letting us know that the music here is special.

This is contemporary small group jazz that proves (unnecessarily) that the current restless development of jazz is in good hands. Perhaps not easy or simple, but absolutely terrific. ★★★★½ out of five

STREAM THESE: Pooloop, Room 58

— Keith Black

 

CLASSICAL

State Choir Latvija and Maris Sirmais
Credo (Hyperion)

This upcoming release celebrates love in all its guises, with the renowned State Choir Latvija led by Maris Sirmais performing six lesser-known choral masterpieces.

The first of those is Richard Strauss’s Deutsche Motette Op 62, Der Schöpfung ist zur Ruh, with the 19-minute a capella work showcasing the soaring vocals of the ensemble skilfully led Sirmais. Kudos to featured soloists, soprano Viktorija Pakalniece and tenor Martins Zvigulis for their early stratospheric solos over the composer’s harmonically dense, Brucknerian-flavoured score dated 1913, that ultimately draws to a final, peaceful close. Also offered is the same composer’s Der Abend, (1897) with its unusual, high G smoothly sustained by the choir’s intrepid sopranos.

Other highlights include late Swedish composer Sven-David Sandstrom’s Four songs of love, a four-movement work of hushed beauty, from its opening Let him kiss me, through to finale His left hand. Clytus Gottwald’s ambitious arrangement derived from Messiaen’s Quatouor pour la fin du Temps notably features 19 individual voice parts that meld together as one seamless meditation. Ambroz Copi’s He wishes for the cloths of heaven (2015) features baritone soloist Janis Petrovskis as well as a set of crystal bowls that infuse the ending with eerie atmosphere.

Perhaps the greatest revelation of all is young Slovenian composer Matej Kastelic’s Credo/I believe, a highly dramatic work that begins in ancient plainchant before dissolving into contemporary dissonance. The arresting work lauded by Sirmais himself in the liner notes is not one soon forgotten; its unsettled sound world asking listeners to examine potent questions about the relevance of faith in today’s 21st century world. ★★★½ out of five

— Holly Harris