One of the most disturbing thoughts to cross the mind of anyone
\nover fifteen watching
\nAmerican Idol<\/i> is that all of these singers sound the same.
\nNot to be pop-cist or anything but all of these singers seem to be
\nexploiting a sort of Whitney Houston Myth of the one mike, no
\ninstrument in the hands, and big voice. Behavioral zoologists will
\ntell you that emulation of form is emulation of power. Ada de
\nLuque’s album
\nWarm Summer Night Dreams<\/i> is a kind of beautiful but failed
\nattempt to break the myth it draws from, the smoky film noir
\nstandards-singer. She writes her own songs but might as well sing
\nstandards.<\/p>\n
The album opens with an intimately crafted song called “Falling”
\nwhich introduces the theme of the album’s content and form: a
\nmellow, immaculately produced album crossing piano bar jazz,
\nCaribbean rhythms, and lyrics trying simultaneously for sensuality
\nand simplicity (usually failing). The prop-like lyrics are
\nconsistently the weakest part of the album, and as admirable as
\nwriting most of the songs herself is, de Luque could benefit from a
\nsolid lyricist. “Yellow Butterfly,” “No Color of You,” “Tu Cosejo,”
\n“Pazzia” all sound like she is faking the emotions she is supposed
\nto have, like Celine Dion covering Aretha Franklin.<\/p>\n
Possibly the finest song on the album, “Lascivious Love” moves
\ninto “popera” territory by weaving “In Trutina” from Carmina Burana
\ninto verses that are supposed to be sexy but somehow fails to set
\nafire. Her classical training shines through however and it truly
\nis a beautiful symbiosis between classical and modern visions.
\nHowever, “Drume” alternates operatic and pop singing techniques
\ninto a lullaby and manages to throw in congas and flute as well,
\nand should all work but like the rest of the album ends up a little
\ntoo structured and predictable.<\/p>\n
Sprinkled in between are midtempo tracks strategically placed
\nfor variation. An attractive, barebones remake of “The Nearness of
\nYou” turns into a light dance song (the “dance” here is closer to
\n“wedding reception” than “Britney Spears Live from Hawaii”) which
\nmakes you wonder how much better if she had just continued with the
\ntrumpet-and-bass only accompaniment. The title track is just a
\nboring version of “Lascivious Love” and there’s an extremely soft
\nreggae track called “Agua de Coco” that has an annoying flaw in its
\nvoice mastering.<\/p>\n
Most of these songs lack a goes-all-the-way feel, or even a
\npowerful restraint feel. De Luque seems to be trying on different
\nmusical themes and personas without really trying harder than
\nmaking a pretty but predictable (thus tedious) track.<\/p>\n
There are those artists who are masters at enhancing their
\nthemes with different myths, such as Sarah Brightman, Bruce
\nSpringsteen or Madonna (just the first three to pop into mind).
\nWarm Summer Night Dreams<\/i> is not quite of that caliber of
\nvision. It is, however, a euphonious, easy and well-produced album
\nthat will sound great on big speakers, as romantic background music
\non\u2026 warm summer nights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7026],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-37968","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ada-de-luque","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37968"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}