101

iTunes Review

Bilingual folk-pop artist Keren Ann plays slow-moving tunes heavy on atmospherics and her own beautifully sullen voice. These are rainy day classics to be pondered over a cup of strong coffee at a street café in a foreign country. Or at least that’s the dream promised. Tunes such as “Run With You” and “All The Beautiful Girls” demand an umbrella and are simply brilliant at transporting the listener to worlds beyond the present. “Sugar Mama” is an upbeat kicker that upsets the trance-like flow, but will likely make a great single. “She Won’t Trade It for Nothing” and, especially, “You Were On Fire,” with its grand orchestral sweep, slink back into the dream-state where the rest of the album soothingly goes, climaxing with the spoken word drama of “101.” Her work on film and television scores has enhanced her understanding of the music. A bonus cover of Bob Dylan’s “Daddy, You Been On My Mind,” is a deserved cherry on top, as it links Keren Ann to the literate folk tradition that her music is rooted in. From there, she takes it elsewhere.