Natalie Merchant : Leave Your Sleep :: Review
Natalie Merchant’s first album in six years, “Leave Your Sleep” marks the return of a major talent who was left to the wilds after the birth of her daughter. “Leave Your Sleep” is an ambitious two-disc compilation of 19th and 20th century British and American poetry, children’s lullabies and obscure works fashioned into songs that serves as her Nonesuch debut. Among the poets that Merchant chose were Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Graves, Charles Manley Hopkins, Ogden Nash and Edward Lear. Between child rearing, Merchant worked on this project for five years creating a treasure trove of songs with memorable melodies thereby ushering in the comeback of a much-missed artist. Merchant co-produced “Leave Your Sleep” with Andres Levin who had previously worked on genre jumping works with David Byrne and Arto Lindsey.
“Leave Your Sleep” could be retitled “Natalie Merchant’s Compendium of Folk,” as Merchant goes through stylistic changes as often as one would change their clothes. Buffered by various guest artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Medeski, Martin & Wood and The Klezmatics, it’s obviously apparent that this is Merchant’s show as these two discs echo the best work of her previous band 10,000 Maniacs. “Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience (Sailor O Sailor)” opens the album and features an exquisite vocal take accentuated by jaunty violins and whistles. The risqué and jazzy bluster of “Bleezer’s Ice Cream” offers an equal retort to Tom Waits’ “Ice Cream Man” that appeared on “Closing Time.” The kitschy Russian waltz of “The Dancing Bear” seems to be the last hurrah on Side One as Merchant goes the introspective route with the shuffling “The Man In The Wilderness” and the moody “If No One Ever Marries Me.”
The New Orleans styled call and response of “The Peppery Man” is an early indication of the diversity of Side Two. Side Two offers slices of jazz, funk, bluegrass and reggae excursions that the newly liberated Merchant lets her freak flag fly upon. Intermixed with the odd are songs of great emotion such as the beautiful “Autumn Lullaby” and “Spring and Fall: to a young child.” Considering the generous berth of quality material on “Leave Your Sleep,” it’s hard to pinpoint just one or two moments where the album truly shines as the entire listen is an excellent experience.
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