Moon Chase New Music Review: The Very Thought of You!

The New Album From Emilie-Claire Barlow!

So....funny story! I was wandering my local mall searching for a Father’s Day gift last Friday and decided on the spur of the moment to pay HMV a visit. Veered to their anime section and was still mighty disappointed that anime still costed an arm and leg - though it’s nice to see some Manga Entertainment re-releases going 2 for $25. Then a little voice in my head reminded me, "Hey! Emilie-Claire Barlow’s album is out next week ! You should go reserve a copy !" I proceeded to the checkout to ask if they would have it on Tuesday, and to my surprise they told me it had been out since last Tuesday and there it was, sitting in a stack of unfiled CDs at the back! I was a little disappointed and thought I had posted the wrong release date as I purchased the CD. As I got home though, turns out June 19th was the release date, and I got very, very lucky! And then I thought wouldn’t it be cool to have our review go up the night before the release? Well, it is now the night before the release and here comes Moon Chase’s review of the muchly anticipated The Very Thought of You!

Emilie-Claire Barlow not only sings on this album , but she has arranged and produced every song on this album! Also, she wrote the string arrangements for four of the songs - which is no easy task in jazz music! She also accompanies her wonderful ensemble with the occasional triangle and shaker. Emilie-Claire’s liner notes feature short notes about what the songs mean to her, or the stories behind them. Not many artists do that these days, and it was cool to read them!

Chibi Sailor V and Sailor Venus couldn't wait for this album!

She sings beautifully in three different languages, English, French, and Spanish - once again giving listeners a musical treat from around the world! The album features softer jazz moments in its emotional ballads, such as The Very Thought of You, My Time of Day, and the French song, Les Yeux Ouverts. All feature piano and bass with very little percussion (if any), and My Time of Day has a dreamy sort of float to it with the backing violins. Emilie-Claire’s alluring voice really shines out in these pieces! We enjoyed the scat singing in Almost Like Being in Love as it was synchronized to the piano. Even we couldn’t tell by the brightness of De Conversa Em Conversa that it was a breakup song!

There’s so many great things about this album but we’d have you here all day telling you about them, so we’ll just tell you which ones are our favorite tracks on the album! We like the upbeat What a Little Moonlight Can Do (and Emilie-Claire’s signature vocalese), O Pato (The Duck), which is a fun tune about a duck, a goose, and a swan doing the samba, and Pennies from Heaven! We'd love to see a video of O Pato performed live! We think everyone can find something to enjoy on this album whether they are familiar with jazz music or not! The album is in stores tomorrow (or today if you are reading this on Tuesday) across Canada, and tracks can be purchased on iTunes or on Snocap via Emilie-Claire’s official MySpace!