When INARA GEORGE WAS FIVE YEARS OLD, she attended the wake of her
father, musician Lowell GEORGE, the beating heart of the band Little
Feat. Strangely enough, it was also her birthday. Hazy memories
include a mountain of presents that engulfed the family grand piano, a
piñata filled with treasures but somehow, she got stuck with the
yucky sesame candy, and most of all, a heavy sense of the day that
couldn't yet be articulated by her child mind.
As anyone who has lost a parent or a close loved one knows, the grief
and the gratitude for a life that touched yours spreads out for years.
Creates rivers of emotions running through families that must be
navigated, side-stepped, sometimes drained. On Dearest Everybody, her
latest solo album since 2009's Accidental Experimental, Inara (The
Bird and the Bee, and the Living Sisters) mines that initial loss and
others that friends and family have suffered, to find the sorrow, and
sometimes the joy blooming in the rockiest of places.
Sometimes the line between joy and sorrow is hard to parse, as she
sings on the opening song, "Young Adult," a tender, uplifting homage
to the messy thrill of growing up. In "Release Me," Inara sings from
her mother's perspective regarding the loss of Lowell. A few of the
songs, including "Tusker 4," "Slow Dance" and "Take Me to Paris" stem
from Inara's annual tradition of writing a song for a dear friend's
baby who was lost in childbirth. The sweetly playful "All for All" was
written for her producer Mike Andrews who told her of a funny
misunderstanding between him and his elderly father in his last few
days.
About three years ago, Inara set out to record the album on her own
– between raising her three children and various projects but
eventually she reached out to Andrews, her collaborator on all her
solo albums, including breakthrough All Rise from 2005. The two
recorded whenever their schedules yielded, and occasionally called in
friends to play.
The hallmarks that are present in Inara's other projects, The Bird and
the Bee (her collaboration with Grammy winning producer, songwriter
and multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin) and the Living Sisters (with
singers Alex Lilly, Eleni Mandell and Becky Stark), are present here:
soaring melodies, airy vocals that swing high and low, exquisite
touches of keys and strings that never overwhelm, but the finished
result is fully Inara. Dearest Everybody is her story, in music and in
life – of taking the losses that formed her and strengthened her,
and shining them out to the rest of the world.
music
concerts
pop
sports
family
210
Views
22/02/2018 Last update