Witty, classy, and with oodles of charm, humour and her exquisitely pure delivery with sublime vocal control, the Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter Lín Bing Jónsdóttir turns back the clock with timeless, gorgeous brand new numbers that capture a bygone era of smooth, sophisticated jazz, and sumptuously scored musicals all about matters of the heart. Her voice has notes of Blossom Dearie, Peggy Lee and when it hovers on slower numbers, a echoes of Chet Baker. The tick-tock and swing of the opener Clockwork feels like we’re really transported in time to a 1950s jazz club, but her highly polished, gently ironic lyrics bring it a sweetly sweary modern edge: “He just called me, said he's runnin' late / Like me, he probably had to regurgitate / I know it's irrational, at least I'm self-aware / I'm shivering, maybe I'll stay home, oh shit, he's here.” Lover Girl is among the many highlights, a beautiful lovestruck bossa nova, Snow White is melancholy intimate, acoustic guitar and orchestral strings number about female pressure and feelings of physical inadequacy, Carousel is a magical twinkle in waltz time, Silver Lining a slow, lingering poetic kiss, but with a hellish edge: “So, I propose/ It's long overdue/ When you go to hell, I'll go there with you too/ And when we're punished/ For being so cruel / The silver lining's I'll be there with you.” And thus the album continues, with an classic interlude piece - Cuckoo Ballet. Every track is a playful, with a flourish of colour, some going more into baroque pop, but all presented with a glorious swish of the curtain, some with bitchy, witty amusement such as on Mr Eclectic, all the way up to the delicious revenge-themed closer Sabotage - the lyrics also containing a musical joke - “So prepare for the impact, embrace your heart, for cold bloody, bitter, sabotage” - the twisting impact being a chaotic melange of instrumental and vocal sounds. A gloriously clever, classy third album by a fabulously talented artist. Out on AWAL.
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