Chances - Jill Barber

Mon 24th Jan, 2011 in Music Reviews

There will invariably be some listeners of Canadian singer Jill Barber’s new (well, new in Australia) album Chances who feel like they’ve taken some steps backwards. They’ll cry, “Where are the synthesisers? The electric guitars? Where o’ where is the studio wizardry I’ve grown accustomed to?” Their cries of confusion will fall on deaf ears, for Barber seems to have found her groove in jazz lounge style singing that would have gelled well in the 1950s, but sounds absolutely alien in the age of Gaga. Hopefully listeners will embrace her dulcet tones, for while there isn’t a great deal of diversity on this album (arguably its greatest pitfall), what Barber has created is lovingly crafted and unique while not sounding dated.

Chances will evoke images of old time movies characters like Holly Golightly singing on the balcony or Grace Kelly batting her eyelashes at a swaggering male lead. The whole album epitomises class and old school romance and it’s difficult not to be swept away by it. When the title track comes on, Chances instantly transports you into a smoke filled room with the spotlight on this sultry singer.

Each song on the album is similar, with the piano and strings being at the forefront of the accompaniment (with the thumping double bass and jazz flute sometimes making themselves known), and background singers doing their crooning in the back. For anyone already familiar with Barber, it won’t be a huge shock to see her switch from acoustic pop to old school cooing, and to other pop listeners it’s a nice change of pace from a lot of music out there. Her voice was made for this kind of album, and although it’s not a niche many would be interested in exploring, it is a testament to her substantial talent for vocal nuance that she could confidently (and successfully) produce an album like this.

The ethos of Chances is to have it transcend age in an attempt to make simple love songs that Barber intends to last a lifetime. In that regard, songs like Chances, One More Time and Take It Off My Mind do a fine job of summoning deep heartfelt emotions. Each song, particularly Take It Off My Mind, is cinematic and feels ripped from a movie you saw a long time ago, but there are no covers here – each song is unique. The only problem with this idea is Barber has made some very similar songs and so it becomes difficult to tell which from which. There are sadly only two types of songs on the album: type one being girl loves boy, and type two being girl loved boy but boy left girl and now girl feels sad. Each song is exceptional in its own right, but there is simply not enough to keep them distinct from each other. This won’t bother everyone, and it certainly shouldn’t deter people from buying the album, for it offers a rare glimpse into an age few could grasp and never see.