Keren Ann - You're Gonna Get Love (2016) [TR24][OF]

You're Gonna Get Love is the first album in five years from singer/songwriter Keren Ann Zeidel. Since 2011, she's contributed six songs to the soundtrack of Yossi, an Israeli film by Etyan Fox, and gave birth to her first child. Becoming a mother changed the way she worked. Rather than writing and recording for days whenever inspiration struck, she methodically carved out time each day. The singer and her trio performed many basic takes live from the studio floor with assistance from producer Renaud Letang (Feist); overdubs were done later. Half the tracks also include strings.

The bouncy bassline, thin snare, and reverbed guitars on the title track – with a string arrangement by Eumir Deodato – sharply recall Lee Hazlewood's work with Nancy Sinatra. "Bring Back" is a devastating narrative waltz about a son lost in war from the point of view of his bereft mother. A repetitive bassline and haunted, wordless backing vocals (provided choral style by Zeidel), trilling strings, and eerie organ, highlight its power. "The Separated Twin" is a quiet anthem to grief, almost an homage to Leonard Cohen. The root of its melodically ascendant verse and lyric imagery dance between "Hallelujah" and "Suzanne." "Where Did You Go?" is a melancholy love song that marries elegant, pillowy '60s pop to spiraling backdrop synths, lilting horns, strings, and flutes (Deodato again). The pulsing bassline and drum track in "Easy Money" evokes vintage Can (think "Father Cannot Yell"), while its angular pop melody channels early-'80s post-punk. "My Man Is Wanted But I Ain't Gonna Turn Him In,' is a sensual, layered, future blues and one of the finest cuts here. "Again and Again" and "The River That Swallows All the Rivers" find Zeidel referencing Dusty Springfield's influence. Closer "You Have It All" is a tender melange of gauzy, classy pop (think middle period Everything But the Girl), framed by deep, moody rhythms. Maxime Moston's elegant string and horn charts bridge that contrast with exquisite taste.

The many influences Zeidel utilizes here don't get in the way of her singular manner of storytelling. She is never less that poetic, her voice as fully invested in her lyrics as her guitar playing – the latter is not something we've heard before. Letang's production is steady yet adventurous. If there is a criticism of You're Gonna Get Love, it's that as finely written, performed, and produced as its songs are, they don't vary enough in tempo, and blur together a bit. Still, it's a small complaint; this remains an excellent as well as a overdue, return. (Thom Jurek)

TRACKLIST
1. You're Gonna Get Love
2. Bring Back
3. The Separated Twin
4. Insensible World
5. Where Did You Go?
6. Easy Money
7. My Man Is Wanted But I Ain't Gonna Turn Him In
8. You Knew Me Then
9. Again and Again
10. The River That Swallows All the Rivers
11. You Have It All to Lose