Here's my review:
Review of “Camouflage”
As Lara has noted, in this album she’s turned her attention away from personal friends and concerns, to instead focus on the world we live in. She’s turned away from herself in other ways as well – her singing is much more modulated, and she views it as part of the ensemble of instruments, which include heavy use of synthesizers and ‘electro-pop’ sounds. Whether you like this album or not depends on how you view those developments.
To enjoy this album to its fullest, one has to accept these premises, and put away expectations of an English album full of power ballads and vocal displays that will produce great hits that others would want to sing (e.g., Adagio). Lara’s view is that times have changed, and she wanted to change as well. So instead she’s constructed a very enjoyable, professional album that shows the quality of her singing, the musicality of the instrumentation, the catchiness of the refrains/choruses, all in the service of lyrics that suggest how we can help make our lives better. It can, perhaps, impress you with its quality, as opposed to with its power.
You might conclude that others could produce the album described above, but only Lara could reach the exalted emotional and vocal heights that have won fans over. I won’t argue that point; but this is what she chose, and the question here is, how well did she do it?
First with respect to her singing: Lara once before wanted her voice to be part of an ‘ensemble of instruments’; the result was the first TLFM, done with Mark Herskowitz. We only heard six songs from that album but reportedly in rejecting the album, Pascal Nègre head of Universal Records reportedly said to Lara, “Where is Lara?” One does not have to worry about that here – even though Lara’s not pounding the upper register continually, her voice is clear and sufficiently up front that one can easily enjoy the singing, which is without any strain. And she uses all the knowledge she has gained over the years to provide her usual excellence in timing, pitch, emphasis, etc. Even her English pronunciation is unusually good for her. For those who love Lara’s voice, there’s certainly enough here to sustain them. I would rate this aspect “A”.
As for the musical approach: I must admit I’m not an expert in how well the “electro-pop” was done with respect to that particular field itself - but I thoroughly enjoyed how it invigorated the songs, provided interesting accompaniment, and made the album quite varied, within that general genre. And combined with the lush strings and orchestral music, it gave a full feeling to the musical album. I would also give this aspect an “A”.
About the song structure: most of the songs have stanzas that provide thoughtful ‘lead-ins’ to the main chorus, and the main chorus itself, in the different songs, was catchy and memorable. The chorus/refrains helped to differentiate the songs, and provide point of reference for enjoyment. The songs are memorable in that way.
This aspect I would also give an “A”.
However, the songs are short, and that diminishes them somewhat (the lush orchestration helps rescue this a bit, by giving them the grandeur that the length does not). Also, I’m not a fan of the abrupt endings that one finds in some of the songs – they seem to pull the song up short. The best songs on this album do end properly (see below). I’d give these aspects a “C”.
Lyrics: Lara said this is meant to be a commentary/observation on what is going on around us, and how we can improve it. In fact, what the lyrics focus on are suggestions as to how we should live our life. Most of the songs offer courses of action or psychological stances on our part. They are the counterpart, in terms of actions, of the inner approach recommended in ‘Le Secret’. While Lara is often said to write ‘love songs’, equally if not more so her lyrics are concerned with spiritual/psychological counseling. For the novelty and acuteness of this approach, I’d give the lyrics an “A”.
The individual songs: Of course this is a matter of taste, but…to me the best songs on the album are (in the order of their appearance): “If I Let You Love me”; “Choose What You Love Most”; “We Are the Flyers”; “Camouflage”; “Keep the Animals Away”; and “We Are the Storm”. Having said that, the others are not far behind, and perhaps next week I’d have a different set of choices
. Care seems to have gone into each and every song, and they are works of art.
Some random comments: Both “Growing Wings” and “Painting in the Rain” have the same problem, IMHO – they end too quickly after the musical interlude, without the return of an additional stanza or at least the chorus/refrain that would finish them properly. This is especially a shame in the case of “Painting in the Rain” which is such a powerful song, with so much emotion; I think it could have been the best song on the album had it been concluded in the normal way. Why rush it to that abrupt end? [John Denver had a song called “Perhaps Love”, which he said was the best song he ever wrote. When it first appeared it was quite short, but he recorded it again and made it somewhat longer, and when he performed it in concert it was often longer still. I guess that’s what I’m hoping for with this song
].
I’m very glad that “Choose What You Love Most” is included on this album (despite it’s somewhat screwy repetition of ‘let it kill you’) because it will allow people who don’t know Lara’s work to realize her full vocal capacity. Without it, the album would certainly be missing that.
“We Are the Flyers” is a great song (and it ends properly!). “If I Let You Love Me” is such a vulnerable, fragile song – it is bound to cause reviewers to reassess their opinion of Lara, in a positive way.
“I’m Breakable” is clearly the sequel to “Unbreakable” from “A Wonderful Life” – and the two taken together highlight the difference in power and acknowledged vulnerability between these two English language albums 13 years apart.
The lyrics for “We Are the Storm” are a bit confusing. The song appears to be about our taking responsibility for the coming problems of the Earth, that we are the storm that one is worried about (a perfect concept). It then recommends that we change – but the line says ‘we can be the change that brings the lightning down, we can be the thunder’. Shouldn’t our change be keeping the lightning and thunder away?
Both ‘Perfect’ and ‘Communify’ are somewhat ‘talky’ in their individual stanzas, but both are converted into musical songs by the catchiness of their refrain. Again, a common point throughout the album – wonderfully tuneful refrains.
All in all, if one accepts the premise of this album, one should be very happy with it. A very classy, professional work that should provide many hours of listening enjoyment for years to come. Overall, I’d give it an A minus (i.e., 4.5 out of 5). Of Lara’s recent albums, the only one I would rank higher is Le Secret (which I consider a masterpiece), although there is an apples and oranges component to any such comparison. Lara and her Team should be very very proud of this effort; let’s hope it entices many new fans, for whom the English language is more accessible, to properly appreciate her, something that we all know is long overdue.
David
. Care seems to have gone into each and every song, and they are works of art.