Jones even goes sofar as to wrangle Modest Mouse and Kings of Leon producer Jacquire King. Andfrom the rubbery bass, echoey keys and pulsing beat of opener and single“Chasing Pirates,” there’s definitely a new touch of indie edge. But for allthe warbly guitars and moody soundscapes, she, thankfully, never really getsaway from herself: Like escaping Brooklyn only to arrive one borough over in“Back to Manhattan,” Jones remains as much akinto a New York Citycoffeehouse as ever.
As before, the tempoholds at half-throttle, the tone remains at lonely resignation and therequisite tears-in-your-dorm balladry appears (“December”). But along with theold-jeans songwriting M.O., there is a wisdom beyond her 30 years that makesJones more than just a middle-of-the-road Grammy hoarder that we can all agreeon. Even when she goes all Tom Waits on the bare-bones stomper “It’s Gonna Be,”the sound is of an artist assuredly within her own skin.
Sure, such a gentlecycle of jazz, country and fem-folkas demure as the singer’sappearancethreatens to be waiting-room-level over the course of a full album.But her career continues to raise an arresting, albeit un-hip, criticalquestion: Can uber-mellow, Top-40, background music work as all that and stillbe worthwhile, thoughtful and well crafted? Jones again answers in theaffirmative.
Norah Jones performs March 19 at the RiversideTheater.
