THE STORY SO FAR:
Norah has taken a new direction on the The Fall, experimenting with different sounds and a new set of collaborators, including Jacquire King, a noted producer and engineer who has worked with Kings of Leon, Tom Waits and Modest Mouse. Jones enlisted several songwriting collaborators, including Ryan Adams and Okkervil River's Will Sheff, as well as her frequent partners Jesse Harris & Richard Julian. Musicians include drummers Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green), and guitarists Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) and Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer). The first single/video is for the album's lead track 'Chasing Pirates'.
TRACK LIST
| 1. Chasing Pirates |
| 2. Even Though |
| 3. Light As A Feather |
| 4. Young Blood |
| 5. I Wouldn't Need You |
| 6. Waiting |
| 7. It's Gonna Be |
| 8. You've Ruined Me |
| 9. Back To Manhattan |
| 10. Stuck |
| 11. December |
| 12. Tell Yer Mama |
| 13. Man of the Hour |
THE CRITICISM:
Norah's regular band is gone, as is her long-time beau and bass player, Lee Alexander; the couple split 18 months ago. It's perhaps little surprise that her songs boast a new-found toughness, their scenarios plucked from the chaotic emotional life of a single New Yorker. "Back to Manhattan" finds Norah torn between lovers on opposite sides of the river, while "Stuck", co-written with Texan rocker Will Sheff, describes a drunken, unhappy night on the town. She's either bereft – in "the loneliest place I have known" on the austerely beautiful "December" – or vengeful, vowing to "tape your picture over his" on the churning "Young Blood", and delivering a righteous, southern "you done me wrong" on "Tell Yer Mama".
THE BREAKDOWN
