Top Ten Albums of 2012 - #2

Norah Jones' Little Broken Hearts

Editor's Note: This is the 9th in a quasi-weekly series of reviews marking my favorite ten albums of 2012. The 10th edition is wrapped into the larger year-end post I call "The Ho Media Awards", which will be published within the next week. Stay tuned!

Three albums in a row, Norah has disappointed me more and more. Not Too Late was a pale imitation of Come Away With Me, her outstanding debut. Feels Like Home was pleasant but unremarkable. And The Fall...well, best not to mention The Fall. I've never lost respect for her talent, but I was afraid that she was drifting out into uninteresting territory over the last few years, so the new album was quite a shock. In fact I'd be so bold as to say this may, in time, eclipse CAWM.

This album is very clearly a break-up album - "Little Broken Hearts," "4 Broken Hearts," and "Miriam" all make that very, very clear:

I know he said it's not your fault
But I don't believe that's true
I've punished him from ear to ear
Now I've saved the best for you

Yikes! But it's slinkier than you'd think. It's the delicate reverb, the easy / sleazy tempos (yes, there is such thing as a sleazy tempo), and the feeling that every sound was gently and meticulously added to create this subtle masterpiece. The tracks aren't just thematically linked but are sonically melded by the righteous guiding hand of Danger Mouse (Brian Burton), who is welcome to command the helm of every future Jones album ever. "All A Dream" is the phenomenal, six-and-a-half minute closer - the grandest thing she's ever done, yet still in the same vein as the rest of the album.

Album Highlights: There isn't one that I skip, so splurge on all of them!