I’m always wary of musicians who choose to thank God on the back of their records, a platitude that has only one setting that is worse: the annual awards ceremony. Such expressions of gratitude are especially guaranteed to raise my shackles when they actually amount to little more than a thinly veiled declaration of self-aggrandisement: in other words when the appreciation is not for “giving me spiritual guidance” or for “showing me the way” but for “making me wonderful”.
So it goes with JANELLE LAUER who thanks God for “the gift and the grace”. By “the gift” I presume she means her singing voice and not some book token or a set of steak knives she received from The Almighty last Christmas. I’m not sure what she means by “the grace” as until I see Ms LAUER in the flesh I’m unable to comment on her ability to sashay and glide across the floor, or to pass wind and deflect the encroaching embarrassment of her guests by making a comment about the unusually inclement weather for the time of year.
The accompanying biography takes sycophancy to new heights of obsequiousness, adopting a cloying tone normally reserved for performers whose names are prefixed with the word’s “legendary” and “great”. Battling through phrases such as, “[l]ike a great teacher, her tone imparts deep meaning that cannot be found in lyric or melody alone” and “standards metamorphose when they hit her vocal chords; every tune exposes some momentous human fragility” I finally manage to glean that Ms. LAUER has already released an album of live recordings, used to sing in a folk group in Nashville and has sung in “community theatre productions”.
The blandly titled ‘Turn The Corner’ is her first studio release and contains a mix of cover versions and her own songs and co-compositions. We’re at the lighter end of jazz/blues, the end that tries to wedge these genres into mainstream popular culture by making sure there are a few tunes people already know. Ms. LAUER attempts two of my personal favourites: Bill Withers’ ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ and Billy Holiday’s ‘God Bless The Child’. On the former she manifestly fails to capture the brief and lonely beauty of the original and unwisely plants a guitar solo in the track that doubles its playing time and makes it a run of the mill blues number. As for ‘God Bless The Child’: what was the point? If you’re going to cover a song try to uncover something that perhaps was obscured or only fleetingly explored first time around or failing that at least rearrange it into something other than a stodgy jazz/blues mid-tempo dirge.
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Her own songs and those she has co-written are at best average. ‘Independence’ is the best of a poor crop with its light touches of world music. ‘As A Matter Of Fact’ shifts along, never threatening to become even vaguely diverting. ‘Breathe’ sounds like a Sting cast-off with its flamenco guitar flourish. ‘Fairytale’ is just icky and ‘Come Back’ dull and messy where its use of backing singers should make it soar. The album’s production and overall arrangements are fussy, flat and lifeless, acting primarily as a hindrance to the vocal efforts of Ms. LAUER. The two Robert Lindsey Nassif tracks ‘I Will Remember You’ and ‘The Air Is Free’ are jarringly awful. The drumming is particularly dire: not in itself something that would normally provoke comment with such middle of the road music but its permanent PC Plod snare-drum has somehow managed to get on my nerves with tracks like ‘Not While I’m Around’ and ‘At Last’ particularly betraying its ineptitude.
As for her voice it really is nothing exceptional. She hits the notes and there are hints of soulfulness and emotion but she currently lacks any defining quality to differentiate it from countless other singers who can carry a tune; again the production and arrangements must take some of the blame. She has power and force but lacks finesse or subtlety of tone and expression, often hand-wringing rather than soul searching.
Her love of musical theatre is evident and to her credit she tries to mix things up in her choices but ultimately her set lacks cohesion or focus and her talents – for she does possess them – would perhaps have been better served by selecting songs that develop a theme or a mood rather than this sporadic pick ‘n’ mix affair that often mires its tunes in a turgid sound.
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