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Label: Blue Note
Sound/Style: Adventurous and literate folk-informed pop
By Steve Morley
Singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega is a longtime New York City resident whose music has often been inspired by the urban environment she calls home. Her best-known songs, like "Tom’s Diner" and the battered child anthem "Luka," are examples of her clear artistic ties to the diverse neighborhoods and cosmopolitan vibes of New York. Vega’s last album was recorded in 2001, just prior to the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center. She not only lost her record deal shortly thereafter, but also suffered a greater loss, and one that was closer to home: her brother Tim, a recovering alcoholic, lost his office job in the demolished Twin Towers, and relapsed into alcohol use that proved fatal. While the post-9/11 landscape informs much of Vega’s highly intimate and long-awaited new album Beauty and Crime, the literate songwriter paints her native city in broad strokes that capture a sense of New York’s past as well as its present.
"New York Is A Woman" personifies the Big Apple as a hardened female whose allure doesn’t guarantee warmth or belonging, and is one of three songs that – like Vega’s vamp-like presence on the CDs artwork – evoke aspects of the shadowy film noir era of the 1940s. The most provocative, "Pornographer’s Dream," burrows into the mystery of what is invisible—and therefore beyond violation—in every person. She portrays the ill-fated celebrity marriage of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner in "Frank And Ava," bringing a vintage sensibility to today’s parade of tabloid headlines. By wrapping the sordid storyline in unexpectedly bright musical hues reminiscent of Sheryl Crow’s, she suggests the throwaway nature of modern relationship and celebrity culture.
The remainder of Beauty And Crime relates to Vega’s own life in both personal and observational terms. She achingly revisits her late brother’s territory in "Ludlow Street" and depicts yet another tale of life after 9/11 on "Angel’s Doorway," based on the true story of a New York City policeman whose work at Ground Zero meant leaving not only his ash-and dirt-strewn uniform in his hallway, but also a part of himself. ("At Angel’s door/ You have to leave it on the floor/ Don’t bring it in/ He can’t show/ What she doesn’t want to know/ Those things he’s seen/ Angel comes home/ His clothes in a cloud/ Of the dust and the dirt and destruction.")
Somehow, all this drama is related with enough artfulness, sensitivity and musical variety to keep Vega’s loosely woven song cycle from becoming oppressive. The London Symphony Orchestra adds a rich backdrop, and a mixture of edgy and organic textures sums up life in the city that never sleeps. Beauty and Crime, in a strange way, is Vega’s love song to New York City, as displayed in songs like "Unbound" which celebrate the freedom and joy she’s found in marriage and motherhood. ("I was once bound at the root/ Confined with twine both mind and foot/ I cut it loose and now am free/ As anything alive can be/ Unbound, roots unbound/ Unbound, into the ground.")
By exploring the potential for love and regeneration in the pockmarked metropolis of New York City, she reminds us that hope exists even in the most unlikely of places.
Audio Clips
"Zephyr & I"
"Ludlow Street"
"New York Is A Woman"
"Pornographer's Dream"
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