k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang “Sing It Loud” (Nonesuch)
Throughout the ’80s, Canadian singer/composer k.d. lang crafted an aesthetic of boisterous camp and countrypolitan cool, artful but never artificial. Onto that melodic hum, lang applied vibrato-laden, pitch-perfect vocals whose impressionistic lyrics gave her brand of luxurious C&W a distingue elegance. With the aptly titled “Absolute Torch & Twang” (1989), lang left country behind to focus on the torch side of things.
Until now. With her first band and steady collaborators since the Reclines and Ben Mink, lang maintains the deeply nuanced soignee vocal sensibility of her past while bringing a country-influenced ambience to everything she surveys. She brought the twang. Not tons of it, just enough to line “Sing It Loud’s” echoing open spaces with prickly sagebrush. From its melodic drift to the use of pedal steel and banjo, there’s a quiet ruckus going on throughout the proceedings. Her voices bellow and coo throughout the operatic “I Confess” and the blunt “Sugar Buzz.” There’s a live and immediate folksiness to “The Water’s Edge” that goes beyond lang’s big vocals. She’s carrying her torch on stuff like “Sorrow Nevermore,” but there’s still a lightness to lang that hasn’t been heard since the ’80s. Yee-hah — kind of. A.D. Amorosi, Philadephia Inquirer
Sara Evans Stronger (RCA)
Over the past few years, the incandescent Evans became more famous for her tabloid imbroglios (back-and-forth cheating accusations with a politico ex-hubby) and “Dancing With the Stars” drama (she ditched the show when the personal dirt went down) than her music. That’s too bad, because the 40-year- old has always been more than a Nashville confection. There’s a natural curl to her vocal, not unlike Dolly’s yodel or Reba’s burn. It’s a standout asset in a sea of pop-country blahs.
This “comeback” album, her first LP in six years, isn’t her best work; that would be 2000’s “Born to Fly.” But there are enough sweet moments to trigger memories of why we crushed on Miss Mizzou in the first place. Evans is playing it safe, happy to vault back into radioland and redefine her chops. It’d be nice to have more, but having her back at all feels swell, too. Sean Daly, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times
