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Inara George is the kind of artist who'll never get called experimental, because her music sounds so sweet. Yet she is a risk-taker -- just one whose voice is clear and accessible.
In the past few years, the 34-year-old L.A. native has worked her way through shoegazing folk with the band Merrick, a Joni Mitchell influence on her 2005 solo debut, internationalist pop with the Bird and the Bee, and Andrews Sisters harmonies with the Living Sisters.
"An Invitation" is her orchestral interlude with Van Dyke Parks, who has been a father figure since his hanging days with her dad, Lowell George. Empowered by this odd old pro, George goes somewhere new -- and historical: into the zone of theater music, between poetry and pop, where she connects with the spirits of Stephen Sondheim and Lorenz Hart.
And Dorothy Parker. Like that immortal poison-pen doyenne, George gets at the melancholy of the self-sufficient urban female by way of a wink and a smile. Her lyrics balance a yen for metaphor with an astringent wit. "I'm like a pet salamander," she sings in "Tell Me That You Love Me." "Just cut a few holes for some air, carry me everywhere."
Parks proves an ideal partner for George, who grew up studying Shakespeare and is married to a film director, Jake Kasdan. "An Invitation" sounds like a cast recording -- it's like "Enchanted" for grown-ups -- and the fact that George is the only voice heard reinforces its mood of semi-serene loneliness. The songs are mostly about love, but even with titles such as "Duet" and "Family Tree," they reflect the thoughts of a woman pondering things, not quite ready to offer her words to the world yet.
Parks' arrangements often aim for childlike wonder (he's known for having worked with Brian Wilson, but his music for the HBO kids' series "Harold and the Purple Crayon" is also excellent), and that too suits George, whose melodies are delicate and young-sounding. Less grand and far more worldly than "Ys," the Joanna Newsom collaboration that brought Parks back into the indie music spotlight, "An Invitation" suffers the danger of being overlooked.
Here's hoping it finds its audience: little girls, couples in love, anyone who dreams in Technicolor.
-- Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times
In the past few years, the 34-year-old L.A. native has worked her way through shoegazing folk with the band Merrick, a Joni Mitchell influence on her 2005 solo debut, internationalist pop with the Bird and the Bee, and Andrews Sisters harmonies with the Living Sisters.
"An Invitation" is her orchestral interlude with Van Dyke Parks, who has been a father figure since his hanging days with her dad, Lowell George. Empowered by this odd old pro, George goes somewhere new -- and historical: into the zone of theater music, between poetry and pop, where she connects with the spirits of Stephen Sondheim and Lorenz Hart.
And Dorothy Parker. Like that immortal poison-pen doyenne, George gets at the melancholy of the self-sufficient urban female by way of a wink and a smile. Her lyrics balance a yen for metaphor with an astringent wit. "I'm like a pet salamander," she sings in "Tell Me That You Love Me." "Just cut a few holes for some air, carry me everywhere."
Parks proves an ideal partner for George, who grew up studying Shakespeare and is married to a film director, Jake Kasdan. "An Invitation" sounds like a cast recording -- it's like "Enchanted" for grown-ups -- and the fact that George is the only voice heard reinforces its mood of semi-serene loneliness. The songs are mostly about love, but even with titles such as "Duet" and "Family Tree," they reflect the thoughts of a woman pondering things, not quite ready to offer her words to the world yet.
Parks' arrangements often aim for childlike wonder (he's known for having worked with Brian Wilson, but his music for the HBO kids' series "Harold and the Purple Crayon" is also excellent), and that too suits George, whose melodies are delicate and young-sounding. Less grand and far more worldly than "Ys," the Joanna Newsom collaboration that brought Parks back into the indie music spotlight, "An Invitation" suffers the danger of being overlooked.
Here's hoping it finds its audience: little girls, couples in love, anyone who dreams in Technicolor.
-- Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times
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