The publicly available singles for this album so far reward close inspection.
One of the singles – ‘Be A Blessing to Someone’ – is a previous marlbank track of the week. The others, the masterly drawn to the dark chill filtering in and out of ‘On Dragon Wings’ and ‘Dream On’ are just as good.
It’s probably less jazz than some of Danish singer Mette Juul’s previous work. That makes Thank You And Other Stories all the more interesting given that there is so much to the singer’s eclectic approach.
Nevertheless while purists may take a moment to orientate themselves in the sound, the songs have a quiet, homespun, even fridge magnet (if being uncharitable) wisdom to their lyrics. Kindness is everywhere.
The melodies are exact, very pure, not really easy listening in any pejorative or specific genre sense but certainly easy on the ear. Pianist Peter Rosendal like Lars Danielsson takes something of a back seat given how central and persuasive Juul’s voice is.
I reckon “let bygones be bygones” song ‘Lucky’ with the deep guitar notes as an underpinning at the beginning is the biggest achievement of all, lyrically and melodically. Juul’s mindful approach is to offer pick me ups in terms of morale boosts. This song is more Joni Mitchell-like than the rest. It revels in naturalistic, quiet reflection and there’s a poetic intensity that isn’t forced.
Much as I try to avoid it inevitable thoughts of Adele covering Bob Dylan’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’ which is tacked on to the end of the album stray. It’s a fine version. But I’m not sure including it was even necessary. The song is a reasonable match to Juul’s own approach. But its familiarity (so recent, too) makes you step out of one room and enter another no matter how hard you try not to.
The cover of ‘Let’s Face the Music and Dance’ perhaps jolts even more although it’s truer to the singer’s jazz background. But it’s not done in a swinging jazz way at all so the match with the other songs and more to the point the pervasive folky feel is fine. I suppose it depends if you like the song or not. I’m ambivalent about it and usually prefer it when it’s done in a more bravura fashion say like the way Diana Krall does it.
‘Let Me Go’ is one of the album’s achievements. It’s got an intimate, adult feel to it – again there’s no real genre here to wrap it inside. You could approach the song from the perspective of a folk fan or a pop picker. No baggage or tribal affiliation are required. Juul becomes a little more experimental in the bridge, there are soft, almost noises-off, brass while the synths add a commercial pop sound. But I didn’t quite get what the message of the song was. It’s more atmosphere.
‘Privileged Life’ has a soft samba undertow to its beginning and the thought process of the song is complex – the protagonist is reflecting quite introspectively about what a privileged life is. This is probably the jazziest of the tracks and Danielsson achieves more traction in the bass line than on some other tracks. The song is more conversational – there is no killer chorus or hooky phrase. I’d challenge you even after several listens to attempt to sing back sections of the song which dwells in a difficult key and minor mode.
‘Disturbance’ with its racing vocal against bass set-up and much tauter story telling approach – the story in one sense is about a madman who may or may not be a prophet – is a fascinating pen picture. Juul rises to a few almost operatic flourishes and there is a playfulness and anarchic flavour to the piano lines.
Overall the album sits with that great era of 1970s singer songwriter friendly approaches – so if you are into Carole King or James Taylor you will be on home ground.
Lars Danielsson delivered what we considered the best single track of 2024 in ‘Le Calme au Château’. The context the bassist finds himself here is less jazz than his own recent work on this with Verneri Pohjola and John Parricelli.
Other good things include a new version of ‘Little Devil Blue’ which Juul included on earlier album 2010’s Coming In From The Dark. Look for Thank You & Other Stories in April.