Norah Jones has fun with a broken heart

The need to be different is inherent in human nature. The comfort zone, no matter how tried, tested and found sturdy, gets boring after a while. Norah Jones found a great jazzy, easy listening sort of niche with her phenomenal first album, Come Away With Me from over 10 years ago. But she has since then also shown a need to constantly experiment with other sounds. That is why she records from time to time with the country group The Little Willies, named after Willie Nelson. That is also why, her new album, Little Broken Hearts, was produced by Danger Mouse.

Danger Mouse is the hot guy of the moment in the recording studio. Born Brian Burton, he does rock, folk, hip-hop dance, electronica and other types of music. He started out with Cee Lo Green in the acclaimed band Gnarls Barkley and has since then produced albums for Beck, the Gorillaz, the Black Keys and other artists. He got into the A-list with The Grey Album where he merged the vocals of Jay-Z’s The Black Album with the instrumental tracks of the White Album by the Beatles. Anybody who can do something like that and succeed surely deserves the Grammy for Producer of The Year.

Norah and Danger Mouse did very well last year with the film soundtrack inspired album, An Italian Story. But their new collaboration is entirely different. It is, Little Broken Hearts, featuring 12 songs that Norah and Danger Mouse wrote together. This is Norah’s solo album and the contents are how Danger Mouse sees how she should be. He laid out a varied spread that in turn Norah used to tell the tale of a failed relationship. It is sad, unforgiving and funny. But there is nothing emo or torchy about it. What Mouse and Norah did was use assorted rhythms to explore, understand and then maybe ease the pain of heartbreak.

No standout singles here. This is after all a concept album that sets a mood to evoke definite feelings. Norah allows herself plenty of freedom and Danger Mouse meets the lady halfway by paring down his usual flourishes and simply allowing her vocals to shine. These do, beautifully set against a cello in Travelin’ On and with guitar and piano in She’s 22. Ever heard of a mellow rocker? That is how I see Norah in this CD. Hurt, strong but can still have fun. 

She is lilting in the single Happy Pills and she ups the tempo more than her usual with Say Goodbye and the reggae-tinged All A Dream. You should also hear how she treats murder in the arresting Miriam. Also included are Good Morning, Little Broken Hearts, Take It Back, After The Fall, 4 Broken Hearts and Out On The Road.

Little Broken Hearts debuted in the US charts at No. 3 early last month. It has since then dropped, went up and dropped again. It is now holding on comfortably to No. 5. The Top 20 albums in the Billboard Magazine Top 200 albums listing for this week are: 

Trespassing by Adam Lambert; 21 by Adele; Blown Away by Carrie Underwood; Rize of the Fenix by Tenacious D; Little Broken Hearts by Norah Jones; Now 42 by Various Artists; Bloom by Beach House; Glee: The Music: Season Three by the Cast of the TV show; Tuskegee by Lionel Richie; Up All Night by One Direction.

Smash, the soundtrack of the TV series starring Katharine McPhee; Blunderbuss by Jack White; Making Mirrors by Gotye; Tailgates & Tanlines by Luke Bryan; Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded by Nicki Minaj; Shape Shifter by Santana; Not Your Kind of People by Garbage; Heroes by Willie Nelson; Live & Inspired by Godsmack; and Strange Clouds by B.o.B.

The Top 20 singles in the hot 100 listing are: Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye featuring Kimbra; Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen; Payphone by Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa; We are Young by Fun featuring Janelle Monae; Starships by Nicki Minaj; Wild Ones by Flo Rida featuring Sia; What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction; Glad You Came by The Wanted; Boyfriend by Justin Bieber; and Drive By by Train.

Stronger by Kelly Clarkson; Feel So Close by Marvin Harris; Where Have You Been by Rihanna; Part of Me by Katy Perry; Scream by Usher; Back In Time by Pitbull; Take Care by Drake featuring Rihanna; The Motto by Drake featuring Lil Wayne; Dance Again by Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull; and Springsteen by Eric Church.