Norah Jones …Little Broken Hearts

So I have been listening to Norah Jones’s …Little Broken Hearts in the past couple of weeks and I was not planning on writing a review, but then the album started to grow on me. Now I can’t seem to get it out of my brain, particularly Jones’child-liking phrasing in “Say Goodbye” backing up by melodious keyboard licks and groovy beats courtesy of Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton. I even started singing in my head lines like, “She’s 22 and she’s loving you.”

While Jones has never been an energetic singer, what makes this collaborative project with Danger Mouse exciting is that the talented producer knows how to nudge Jones up a notch. In the title track, he provides the right tools, midtempo beats mixed in the 60’s psychedelic electric guitar, for her to take revenge: “Beautiful soldiers in their beds / Making love inside their hands / With no chance to defend / Tonight could be their end.” The drama escalates on “Miriam.” Once again, Danger Mouse sets up the cinematic backdrop for Jones to do the Quentin Tarantino’s style of killing: “You know you done me wrong / I’m gonna smile when I take your life.”

From the bouncy “Happy Pills” to the heavy “4 Broken Hearts,” Norah Jones and Danger Mouse offer some of the sweetest revenges ever heard on record even though it takes some times to sink in.