Leave Your Sleep

Natalie Merchant’s first release since 2003 is a stellar effort. She took children-centric poems from the last century and set them to music. Poets include Ogden Nash, Robert Louis Stevenson and e.e. cummings. Guest musicians include Wynton Marsalis, The Ditty Bops, The Fairfield Four and Medeski, Marin and Wood. Making use of many musical genres such as reggae, bluegrass, jazz, musicals and more, Leave Your Sleep will hook many DJ’s. All are worth a listen. NO FCC’s.

*My favorites*: 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11.

1. (5:12) Slow / Mid. Gaelic with strings. Lushful, quiet finish.
2. (3:45) Slow / Mid. Accordian, clarinet, very mysterious mood.
3. *(4:40) Slow. Strings play staccato in line with lyrics. Great stuff.
4. (5:37) Mid. Eastern European flair. Playful strings, carnivalistic.
5. *(2:42) Mid / Fast. Bluegrass-ish. Banjo, guitars bright under longing lyrics.
6. *(3:52) Mid. Vaudevillian with sax, banjo, clarinet. A love song played brightly.
7. (5:06) Slow with Mid bursts. Bluesy guitar, deep bass male vox. Awesome.
8. (5:10) Mid. Reggae jam with cool organ
9. *(5:17) Mid. Jazzy, bluesy tune about alternately-flavored ice cream. Great bass vox.
10. *(3:30) Mid then Fast. Keys play staccato under beautiful chorus of female voices.
11. *(3:25) Mid / Fast. Bluegrass-ish. About a girl who kills under bright instrumentation.
12. (2:39) Mid. Chinese tune. Beautiful female voices tell the story of a given rope.
13. (3:20) Slow. Somber dirge declaring ‘boys do not like being chewed’.
14. (2:22) Slow. Quiet, minimal self-loathing song.
15. (4:07) Slow with Mid bursts. Reflective childhood song, great passage with strings.
16. (3:06) Slow. Sounds like a soundtrack, quite moody.