Lost Amongst the Rubble

Artist: Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi, feat. Norah Jones
Song: Season’s Trees
Album: Rome
Mood: Fragmented

If you haven’t heard the latest album from Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton, allow me to give you a little background. It’s called “Rome,” and the central idea is the creation of cinematic, sweeping tunes similar to those heard in the old Italian “cinecittà” from the 1940s and 50s. In fact, Burton and his collaborator, Italian producer Daniele Luppi, employed many of the same people who provided the Ennio Morricone-type scores for those same movies many decades ago. Using only 2 singers in Jack White and Norah Jones, Burton and Luppi employed a minimalist technique that was more focused on the music itself and not the voices that accompany it. “Season’s Trees,” with Norah Jones, is a shining example of their vision at work.

The tune is mournful, beautiful and a little haunting; moreover, it sounds like a song you would hear playing over the end credits to a James Bond movie (Daniel Craig version). Jones’ simple, straightforward wails tell a tale of despair- the loss of love, the loss of time, the loss of hope. The orchestral arrangement behind her carries most of the emotional weight of the song, but her vocals are perfectly married to the tune. It’s a weighty song, designed for those lonely, dreary days when something significant happens in your life and you need a background against which you can think things through. I strongly urge you to check the song out- you won’t be disappointed.

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