Paula Cole: Courage

Label: Decca
Sound/Style: Introspective and subdued adult pop with jazz and worldbeat underpinnings

By Steve Morley

Paula Cole’s emergence in the mid-1990s came in tandem with a wave of female singer-songwriters like Sarah McLachlan and Tori Amos, whose work explored womanhood in candid depth. Perhaps because Cole’s adolescent-based themes were more accessible to the average mainstream listener, she rapidly ascended to stardom, but experienced an equally speedy decline. After an eight-year hiatus, Paula Cole has returned with her fourth album, Courage. While the post-adolescent rumblings have subsided somewhat and her sometimes-brazen images have mellowed, Cole is still probing issues of identity from a woman’s point of view.

On her 1996 hit "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?", the singer looked at traditional gender roles with a large dose of irony. Her latest album signals a shift, revealing an uneasy connection between her independence and her desire for male companionship.

On the reggae-driven "Safe in Your Arms," she questions her ability to endure the outside world alone and confesses a need for security in the form of a partner who will sustain her emotionally as well as physically: "It don’t matter how strong I think I am/ I always need another heart/ To bind me to the moment/ To help me see myself/ I wanna be safe in your arms."

"Hard to Be Soft" combines girlish fantasies with single-mother realities, delving deeper into the contradiction of toughness versus tenderness. Atop a gentle bossa nova setting, the appearance of Brazilian singer Ivan Lins as a househusband nods to the shifting norms of a modern society where women often shoulder considerable weight.

Elsewhere, Cole tackles the seemingly disparate topics of loneliness, personal growth and romantic ambivalence in a variety of styles, encompassing jazz, global influences and modern folk. The sophisticated textures here are sonically sumptuous, as is Cole’s versatile voice. However, her lyrics don‘t always stand up to the ambitious themes she chooses to explore. However, Cole does attempt to offer insights on the human condition that, with some effort, can point to links between inner healing and spiritual maturity. While examining her own life for clues on "It’s My Life," she encourages herself and her listeners to reclaim their youthful natures as a step toward fully realized adulthood: "Why not take a chance?/ By keeping the child alive in our heart/ There’s truth and meaning there."

While confessing at one point to an ineffective "so-called spirituality," she triumphs in a clear-headed moment of earnest prayer on "Comin’ Down," a refreshingly straightforward acoustic number about new beginnings that gives the philosophical album some spiritual ballast: "Lord make me a lens to better see my life/ Lord make me an instrument to sing away the pain/ This rushing river, comin’ down/ I’m free, here in the mountains of peace may I be/ I see the greatness above and the smallness of me."

Cole’s re-emergence won’t likely trigger confetti parades from those who weren’t already aboard the fan wagon, as the new album’s abundance of soul-searching limits its easy listening potential. But growth often requires unsteady steps, and Courage honestly and bravely documents one artist’s attempts to reconcile body, soul and spirit.

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