Review: NYC 9/22/03 - New York Times
POP REVIEW | ELVIS COSTELLO - By JON PARELES
Elvis Costello Returns, Brooding and Restless
EXCERPTS:
..."Style, it might be argued, is the sum of a musician's reflexes: the melodic contours, harmonic turns, rhythms and verbal patterns that come most naturally. Elvis Costello is determined to refute that argument. Whenever he grows secure in a style, he sets it aside and seeks out another one, fighting his own reflexes to a draw. His new album, "North" (Deutsche Grammophon), is his latest battle with himself. ... He made up in drama what he had sacrificed
in decibels."
..." While the words aspire to transparency, the music grows complex, as if Mr. Costello soaked up as many convolutions as he could from his 1998 collaboration with Burt Bacharach, "Painted From Memory" (Mercury), then set out to bend and fold them further. He sounds as if he has been studying Cole Porter, Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Stephen Sondheim, Chopin and Schubert, too. The "North" album features Mr. Costello's own arrangements for strings and horns, but onstage he put down his guitar for the new songs, letting Mr. Nieve provide pastel jazz harmonies and pristine quasi-classical embellishment."
..."Mr. Costello hasn't made his songs easy on himself. He's at the limits of his vocal instrument in his new ones, trying to use the strain in his voice to suggest yearning. Another singer might be more comfortable with this music. But Mr. Costello would clearly rather find comfort in romance than in songwriting.
FULL TEXT
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Style, it might be argued, is the sum of a musician's
reflexes: the melodic contours, harmonic turns,
rhythms and verbal patterns that come most naturally.
Elvis Costello is determined to refute that argument.
Whenever he grows secure in a style, he sets it aside
and seeks out another one, fighting his own reflexes
to a draw.
His new album, "North" (Deutsche Grammophon), is his
latest battle with himself. Last year he reunited with
most of his crafty late-1970's band to speed up and
rock out on "When I Was Cruel" (Island); now he has
veered to the opposite extreme, singing slow,
sustained ballads. At Town Hall on Monday night (he
has a second concert there tonight), accompanied only
by Steve Nieve on piano, Mr. Costello retrofitted his
old songs with his latest approach while he unveiled
new ones. He made up in drama what he had sacrificed
in decibels.
The songs from "North" turn Mr. Costello's usual
gambits inside out. The album has a story line about
an old romance collapsing and a new one beginning
(although the title song, which is available only on
the Internet, is more playful, a tribute to Canada).
On the album the lyrics replace Mr. Costello's usual
rush of images and wordplay with brief, emotionally
direct verses: "Maybe this is the love song that I
refused to/Write her when I loved her like I used to."
While the words aspire to transparency, the music
grows complex, as if Mr. Costello soaked up as many convolutions as he could from his 1998 collaboration with Burt Bacharach, "Painted From Memory" (Mercury), then set out to bend and fold them further. He sounds as if he has been studying Cole Porter, Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Stephen Sondheim, Chopin and Schubert, too. The "North" album features Mr. Costello's own arrangements for strings and horns, but onstage he put down his guitar for the new songs, letting Mr. Nieve provide pastel jazz harmonies and pristine quasi-classical embellishment.
In the past a typical Costello melody has taken clear,
stepwise motions up and down the scale, while using
symmetry to make the audacious lyrics more
approachable. But his new tunes rarely go very far
without taking a leap to an unlikely note. They also
use harmonic nuances to paint the lyrics, with rising
or falling chords to match mood shifts and chromatic
tensions giving way to reassuring major-chord
resolutions.
Mr. Costello chose older songs, like "Shot With His
Own Gun," "All the Rage," "Rocking Horse Road" and
"Almost Blue," that are full of betrayals and bitter aftermaths. As he sang them, Mr. Costello reveled in
dynamics: a desperate crescendo followed by a brooding
hush, a shout leading to a pained reconsideration. He
often moved away from the microphone, letting his
voice be heard unadorned.
Mr. Costello hasn't made his songs easy on himself.
He's at the limits of his vocal instrument in his new
ones, trying to use the strain in his voice to suggest yearning. Another singer might be more comfortable with this music. But Mr. Costello would clearly rather find comfort in romance than in songwriting.