Standing On The Rooftop (Deluxe Edition)

Madeleine Peyroux, the singer who listens to her heart

Some performers can spend years searching for their own unique sounding and never find it, others do after releasing two or three experimental album, and a few of them know from the very beginning what their music is going to be like. The American singer with a French name Madeleine Peyroux is exactly one of the latter. Listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Holiday’s jazz standards since childhood, Madeleine knew quite early the taste freedom of in the streets of Paris together with modern hippies-musicians, and she started singing because it was in her heart. She has never strived for becoming popular all over the world like one of today’s pop divas, still there is a hard period in her career she is unwilling to remember. Luckily all of it is left behind, and it has been now several years that Madeleine Peyroux has a growing fan base who love her soft voice and smoothing melodies of her songs. As for her works, they would consist of covers only at the beginning and the singer recorded her first original material collection Bare Bones only in 2009. This year Miss Peyroux has decided to unite her own interpretations of other performers’ compositions with new pieces on a marvelous record that got called as one of the best songs on it, Standing On The Rooftop.

The elements of jazz, folk, retro and rootsy motifs

Since guitarist Marc Ribot and virtuoso bassist Me’shell Ndegeocello have taken part in working on the album Standing On The Rooftop it has resulted to be not quite jazz but combining the elements of jazz, folk, retro and rootsy motifs. Naturally the leading role as always is played by Madeleine Peyroux’ charming vocals. The album opens with the cover of Beatles’ Martha My Dear, soft and playful from which the musical river’s slow flow gets its start. The track The Kind You Can't Afford co-written by the singer and former Rolling Stones’ bass guitarist Bill Wyman proves to be rather interesting. Madeleine is half singing half speaking on it against the background of excellen guitars which sound even more impressive on The Things I've Seen Today with thoughtfully wise lyrics. A very slow and dreamy song Fickle Dove creates an amazing light and solemn atmosphere, whereas I Threw It All Away is a bow to Bob Dylan’s creative work, and though it is not the most successful of Madeleine’s covers she has managed to fill the song with her own feel. The song Superhero tells about the opportunities supernatural power gives a loving person, and one just cannot help believing the sincerity of the singer’s wishes. The cover of Robert Johnson’s hit Love In Vain has resulted to be very beautiful, sad and mystical due to the ethnic instrumentation and motif, whereas the livelier and more dynamic track Don't Pick A Fight With A Poet, built around remarkable keyboards and guitar proves to be the least serious on the album. The coquet composition Meet Me In Rio pleases with a sultry guitar solo, and the album closer is another dynamic number The Way Of All Things, on which Madeleine is singing with a lower voice than usual which definitely gives the music even more charm and refinement.

Reflections with a ghost of a smile on one’s lips

The most important thing about every Madeleine Peyroux’ works is the unforgettable atmosphere. If the main stake on her previous works except for Bare Bones was made on the time-proved songs then the singer is completely counting on her own voice and instruments on the new compositions. Taking into account the fact that the artist released her first album fifteen years ago, her music is already well known among the genre fans, and they always anticipate her new works. One should not expect that Standing On The Rooftop can surprise with anything or make a sensation in the world of jazz and folk. In fact, this is an album in the best Madeleine Peyroux traditions – atmospheric, unhurried, allowing the listener to reflect with a ghost of a smile on one’s lips. What can one think of standing on the rooftop? Of life, one’s own and of people you see down below, one can remember something or daydream, contemplate the world and the sky above – these are approximately the things the performer sings about in her new songs. Thus, if you have been looking for a record that you can play in the evening absorbed in your own thoughts sitting peacefully in a soft armchair, then Standing On The Rooftop is just what you need.