Taking a break from the Bird and the Bee's retro electronics, Inara George teamed up with family friend Van Dyke Parks to create an album of elegant symphonic pop. An Invitation is the stylish result, with George playing the part of a modern-day jazz singer (she's more Norah Jones than, say, Diana Krall) over layers of strings, flutes, brass, and piano. Given the general lack of percussion, George is required to set her own pace, a challenge she meets with nimble phrasing and rubato delivery. Parks also adapts to his partner, working around her subtle vocals by heaping on the violins and limiting the presence of bright, brassy horns. Even so, An Invitation is nothing if not a Parks record; his influence is felt in every measure, every quarter note, and he arguably deserves to share top billing with George. Putting the two on equal ground might've also encouraged more push and pull in the melodies, which often lack the memorable hooks of George's previous work. George and Parks hardly coast along on the strength of their pedigrees, however, and An Invitation fares better as the duo's debut effort rather than George's follow-up to The Bird and the Bee. This is an album for Sunday afternoons, for fans of Frank Sinatra and Aaron Copeland, for sophisticates who want music to soothe their minds rather than demand its full attention.
Assuming -- and this is really giving people the benefit of the doubt here -- that the only reasons not to call Joanna Newsom's Ys a breathtaking work of staggering brilliance (or whatever) are that it's 1) full of 10-minute songs and 2) sung by Joanna Newsom, naysayers are going to have to hear An Invitation . A full-length collaboration with Van Dyke Parks (Newsom orchestrator, Brian Wilson...
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The lovely songstress Inara George will be coming into our studios on Wednesday, July 9th, to answer some of your questions!So if you have any, holla, go here... leave a comment:http://current.com/items/89081432_ask_inara_george_anything_you_like via video or text and she just might answer it on TV! Any questions, message me! Thanks guys!
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Assuming -- and this is really giving people the benefit of the doubt here -- that the only reasons not to call Joanna Newsom's Ys a breathtaking work of staggering brilliance (or whatever) are that it's 1) full of 10-minute songs and 2) sung by Joanna Newsom, naysayers are going to have to hear An Invitation . A full-length collaboration with Van Dyke Parks (Newsom orchestrator, Brian Wilson...
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It never hurts to have the right friends in the right places. Inara George takes full advantage of an old family friend on her new album An Invitation, out now on Everloving Records. Lucky for her, and us, the friend she's collaborated with on this album is Van Dyke Parks, the arranger of the last forty years. Haven't heard of him? Certainly you've heard him. Suffice it to say he arranged songs...
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It never hurts to have the right friends in the right places. Inara George takes full advantage of an old family friend on her new album An Invitation, out now on Everloving Records. Lucky for her, and us, the friend she's collaborated with on this album is Van Dyke Parks, the arranger of the last forty years. Haven't heard of him? Certainly you've heard him. Suffice it to say he arranged songs...
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Overture |
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| 2 Right as Wrong |
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| 3 Accidental |
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| 4 Bomb |
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| 5 Duet |
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| 6 Dirty White |
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| 7 Idaho |
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| 8 Rough Design |
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| 9 Tell Me That You Love Me |
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| 10 Don't Let It Get You |
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| 11 Oh My Love |
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| 12 Family Tree |
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| 13 Night Happens |
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Click to purchase…
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 "An Invitation")
