Michelle Lordi

Two Moons

Imani

Two Moons is vocalist and songwriter Michelle Lordi’s fifth album as a leader, and the second with bassist Matthew Parish serving as a co-producer as he did on her 2019 Break Up the Sound. Just as that album featured a A-list cast (guitarist Tim Motzer, saxophonist Donny McCaslin, and drummer Rudy Royston along with Parrish), here Lordi reacquaints herself with friend and pianist (and label owner) Orrin Evans, who assembled his acclaimed trio Tar Baby (bassist Eric Revis and drummer Nasheet Waits) as the core backing unit with a strong assist from frequent collaborator Caleb Wheeler Curtis on soprano sax for five tracks. Parrish and Revis share bass duties with Parrish on three and Revis on the balance. Evans also produced and played on her 2015 Drive.

Two Moons, in comparison to its predecessor is totally acoustic and a has a quieter, more ruminative soundscape. When planning the album Evans indicated to Lordi, “But let us come to this situation with our vibe, which may be different than any other trio that’s going to back you.” Truer words have rarely been spoken as Evans and his mates, embrace their minimalist side, with a stimulating “less is more” accompaniment, framing Lordi’s enchanting, seductive, oft-ethereal vocals beautifully. As Evans is also noted for being rather unpredictable, they can be mildly surprising and slightly disturbing in a few spots too, but it all plays to Lordi’s advantage.

Lordi is every bit the song interpreter who turns familiar songs into those that are completely her own, as per her track record on her previous recordings. She intersperses her own compositions (“Both,” “Never Break,” “Scare the Ghost,” and “Sailor and the Sea” with the chestnut “Blue Moon,” Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” and standards such as “Haunted Heart” and “Moon and Sand.” She’s laidback, never forceful, and intent on creating and unraveling the ominous dream she had during the pandemic before the album was recorded. Her emphasis is on the lyrics rather than any sort of ostentatious vocal technique. You won’t hear Lordi scatting through these songs. The songs paint a picture of an unsettled Lordi, true to her feelings at the time. She is expressive, warm, fully focused, and finds some bright moments in the dark along the way.

“Both” is her intimate recitation of that very dream to the accompaniment of only Revis and Curtis who are brilliant in support. She references numerous odd sounds, at one point she visits a jazz club, and just reflects on walking beneath the moon and trying to process all kinds of sounds in her head, weighing the good with the bad, the happy with the sad. Revis takes the intro to the slowed down “Blue Moon” with Evans carefully choosing chords and Waits hitting his kit judiciously. Her annunciation is crystal clear, again focusing on the lyrics more so than melody. It’s a far cry from Elvis, Sinatra, Billie Holiday, or the many others who have sung it but it’s as eminently worthy as any version; certainly, far more intimate. Her own “Never Break,” a love song, follows in a similar vein. Evans and Revis get plenty of space to do their thing too. In a clever segue, extending from her last line “Do you want to break my heart?, Lordi renders a standout inventive take on Neil Young’s tune, ratcheting up the tempo from the original while Revis and Waits, and later Evans, dance around underneath, providing the heat to Lordi’s cool.

The trio, with Parrish in tow for the next three tracks, does a spirited intro to “Close Your Eyes” as Lordi continues the dreamy love motif. Curtis enters on soprano taking that dream into frantic territory, amplified further by the edgy rumblings of the trio. Rather disquieting soprano notes lead into Lordi’s whispering rendition of the deliberate “Haunted Heart” as Curtis and Lordi trade lines throughout with Evans and the trio mostly delivering quick bursts. In yet another classic segue that makes almost too much sense after the line “be scared my haunted heart,” she follows with “Scare the Ghost,” a reimagining of the same song that appeared on her 2019 album. Curtis remains aboard and Revis returns from here through the next three. The response to her lyrics by the four musicians, led by Curtis’ slithering lines, is enough to indeed put fear in that proverbial ghost. One quibble is Lorid’s tendency to be over repetitive with lyrics as she is here and, on the Neil Young tune.

She also unearths a rarely heard tune, an extremely tender reading of “Moon and Sand” that appeared on her 2014 Michelle Lordi Sings with outstanding bass playing from Revis and trademark obtuse piano from Evans interspersing her achingly vulnerable vocal.  She closes with her own “Sailor and the Sea” exchanging again with Curtis in a half spoken, half sung vocal expressing a yearning for that sailor who will eventually return to her.

Orrin Evans was right. This is one of the more unique vocal albums by any measure. Lordi and the musicians cast an enchanting spell that never lets up.  The listener has little choice but to remain engaged and although they may sink into a dreamlike state too, they will ultimately emerge well satisfied. If you’re like this writer, you’ll be seeking out more of Lordi’s material too.

• Jim Hynes

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