FEELS LIKE HOME

Feels Like Home is the second full length LP by multi-genre singer-songwriter, Norah Jones. While she’s the daughter of famous Indian musician and composer Ravi Shankar, she’s made waves in the music industry all on her own. Jones’ debut album, Come Away with Me, earned her five Grammys, making her the first musician of South Asian descent to win that many Grammy Awards. Her music is a mix of different genres such as jazz, pop, folk, and country. Her second album turned 20 years old a month ago, so how does it hold up today?

     We open the album with the track, “Sunrise,” which is a relaxing fusion of jazz and folk. Norah’s voice glows over the piano and gentle acoustic guitar strumming. “Surprise, surprise, couldn’t find it in your eyes, but I’m sure it’s written all over my face,” is a beautifully written lyric. The piano solo in the track isn’t something I hear often, but I appreciate it being included, because it sets it apart from most popular music of the 21st century. One of my favorites on the album.

    Next up, is “What Am I to You?,” which has a pleasant backdrop of bluesy electric guitar and an electric piano. This song sounds like the type of tune that would be played in the scene of a romantic drama when the couple breaks up. Still, jokes aside, this song is incredibly soulful, and I appreciate the raw emotion Norah put into this track. And I’m a sucker for blues music, so hearing a contemporary singer do it on a relatively recent album makes people unfamiliar with blues more likely to explore the genre even more. Some of the best love songs are blues songs. A lyric I especially like is, “To me, you are the sea. Vast as you can be, the deepest shade of blue.”

   “Those Sweet Words,” has a mix of classical piano and more acoustic guitar noodling. The percussion on this track is very minimalist as well. A soothing love song, Norah illustrates “those sweet words” as “spoken like a melody.” I also like the line “All your love is a lost balloon. Rising up through the afternoon, till it could fit on the head of a pin.” The guitar and piano sound like something you’d hear in the video game Animal Crossing, as the instrumentation is very similar to the music you hear in the exploration section of the game.

   “Carnival Town,” on the other hand, has a much more melancholy sound than the previous tracks. In it, she sings, “Round and round, carousel. Has got you under its spell. Moving so fast, but going nowhere.” It’s an incredibly bleak song, and I like how she mentions different fun activities at a carnival, and finds a way to make them sound like the most depressing activities imaginable. That takes incredible skill and an understanding of how hard it can be to be alone and feel as if you’re directionless. The laid back guitar chords with the beautiful harmonizing of Norah’s layered vocals makes for a truly sad, but incredibly beautiful track. Another favorite.

   “In the Morning,” brings back the acoustic sound on previous tracks, but is much more bluesy and I like how it incorporates the electric piano. She talks about how she can’t help but fall back into a relationship that she knows is bad for her. Another great piano solo is on this track. There are some great guitar riffs on this album, and I really enjoy the stripped-back sound of the record.

   We get another love song, “Be Here to Love Me,” has a downtempo drum rhythm, and has a lovely piano pattern as well as splices of accordion in the mix. The electric guitar solo is soulful and adds some additional layers to a mesmerizing track. I like her poetic visual lyrics on this cut too, “The moon’s come and gone, but a few stars hang on to the sky.”

   After that, is an uptempo track, “Creepin’ In,” which features the legendary country singer, Dolly Parton. The guitar refrain with the minimalist drum pattern allows both singers to shine on this track. I love their harmonizing in the chorus, and both Dolly and Norah provide excellent vocal performances on the track. In addition, there’s a wild acoustic guitar solo after the second chorus that’s absolutely lovely. For being the only feature on the album, Dolly Parton makes a memorable contribution to the record.

    “Toes,” is a more laidback track, where Norah tells a relaxing daydreaming story, where we can envision ourselves touching the water. The electric guitar solo is soulful and provides a nice break in the track. The instrumentation is one of the strongest parts of this album, and the calming piano at the end gives us a nice outro to the song. Norah plays the piano parts in many of the tracks off this record, which showcases how talented she is as a musician.

    Following that, is the acoustic ballad, “Humble Me,” which has a much more somber sound than the last two tracks. I will say, most of the songs transition well, but I feel like it would make more sense for the more melancholy tracks to be organized closer together in the track list. Not all of the sad tracks should be lumped together, but they’d feel more connected to each other, in my view. I do like the spiritual side that Norah shows on this track, but it’s not one of my personal favorites, just because I feel like it’s a bit too long. I like that the track is just Norah paired with the acoustic guitar though, because it feels very personal.

    “Above Ground,” is another track with an acoustic sound. I’ve noticed that the majority of this album has a very acoustic sound. There’s some electric guitars in the mix on this record though, as well as electric pianos, resonator guitars, and organs. This track is a very well orchestrated love song, featuring a very beautiful bluesy guitar solo. 

  “The Long Way Home,” is a solid track, but I’ve started to notice that a lot of the songs on this record, have similar tempos, and sure, while many of the songs are in different keys, a lot of them have the similar folksy guitar chord progressions. I get that the album is supposed to be mostly country and blues influenced, but a little more variety in the sound would make it a much more engaging listen for the audience. “The Prettiest Thing,” features some beautiful piano from Norah, and her solo on the track shows off her versatility. Finally, we get a low-key and somber piano ballad, in “Don’t Miss You At All,” the album finishes on a high note with this wonderfully arranged track. I like how this cut off the record is solely focusing on Norah’s beautiful voice and her talent when it comes to the piano.

    In closing, Feels Like Home, is a solid record, but many of the tracks sound very similar, for better or for worse. From what I know about Norah Jones, her sound is very versatile, but I feel like more of that versatility should’ve been showcased on the album. She’s an incredibly talented singer, and her and the other songwriters provided well-written lyrics, but I would’ve liked to see more of a variety of experimentation on this album. The instrumentation is lovely and well orchestrated, and I like how minimalist a lot of the production is on the songs, because it provides the listener with more focus on Norah’s vocals and lyrics. I enjoyed this album, but I expected more than just a country/folk sound on this album. A solid album, but I can’t see myself giving it a higher score than a 7.

Overall Score: 7/10

Favorite Tracks: “Sunrise,” “What Am I To You?,” “Carnival Town,” “In the Morning.”

Least Favorite Tracks: “Humble Me,” “The Long Way Home.”

Listen To: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl_4CVB6EVQ

Genres: Alternative/Country/Folk