A1 	Lento		3:04
A2 	Lament		3:40
A3 	Hurt	5:22
A4 	Empty Dream	4:20
A5 	Momento Magico	5:32
B1 	Soundless Bye		3:44
B2 	Full Circle	3:36
B3 	Ghost Riders In The Sky		4:58
B4 	Waiting		3:30
B5 	Arirang		4:25
B6 	New Dawn	3:42

Accordion, Accordion [Accordina] – Vincent Peirani
Bass, Cello – Lars Danielsson
Guitar [Guitars] – Ulf Wakenius
Percussion – Xavier Desandre-Navarre
Vocals, Producer – Youn Sun Nah

Youn Sun Nah's rejection of a multi-record deal with French outfit Label Bleu to preserve her artistic freedom indicated that a change was in the air, following five recordings with her French 5tet band. Signed up by German label ACT, Nah released two critically and commercially successful albums, Voyage (2009) and Same Girl (2010), with the same core group of guitarist Ulf Wakenius, bassist Lars Danielsson and percussionist Xavier Desandre-Navarre. Both albums borrowed from the language of jazz, folk and pop, though Same Girl marked a stylistic shift towards emotionally edgier material. On Lento, Nah goes deeper still into the emotional psyche and, as the title suggests, slows things down in the process.

Generally, the arrangements are stripped down to the bare essentials; Nah is accompanied only by Wakenius's acoustic guitar on the title track, an ode to the caressing balm of nature, and on "Hurt," Nine Inch Nail singer Trent Reznor's melodically beautiful yet anguished account of drug abuse. On both numbers Nah's delivery is intimate and soulful. There's a similar soul-laid-bare intimacy in the vocal and bass intro to "Lament"; "My life is short and my days are running, as fast as you loved me, as fast as you left me," Nah sings, and there's striking contrast between the singer's slow, poetic delivery and accordionist Vincent Peirani's cheery lines.

On "Soundless Bye," another examination of inner hurt, Nah sings, "I've been hurting but my tongue won't say anything," on what could almost be a prologue to "Lament." Though not a blues in style, Nah is clearly at home with its inherent spirit; Issues of genre aside, Nah's poignant delivery throughout Lento is never less than convincing. "Waiting," with Danielsson on cello, is melodically sweeter, though the silence of the "summer rain at dawn" that Nah sings of gives way to a "battlefield of lost love."

The high speed unison lines that have become something of a trademark between Nah and Wakenius get a run out on the percussion-driven "Momento Magico," as the singer gives rein to her impressive range and technique. In her idiosyncratic, Tom Waits-esque version of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" Nah joins the Grateful Dead, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley as artists who have interpreted Stan Jones' 1948 country song. Nah explores her roots on the hauntingly pretty Korean folk song "Arirang," with gentle accompaniment courtesy of Wakenius on acoustic guitar and Peirani on accordina—a hybrid between accordion and mouth organ.

Thematically, there's a suite-like thread to Nah's compositions, though "New Dawn," a mixture of melancholy and quietly voiced optimism, looks towards the future "like a flower waiting to bloom," rather than providing any happy resolution to Lento's tales of love dying and love lost.

Nah's eclecticism makes her difficult to pin down and Lento will only add to the "is she a jazz singer?" debate. Nah certainly can do jazz—and plenty more besides—but Lento is simply a singer/songwriter's album of great intimacy, poetry and charm, and Nah's most personal statement to date. ---Ian Patterson, allaboutjazz.com

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 1. Traveller
 2. Teach The Gifted Children
 3. Too Late
 4. She Moves On
 5. No Other Name
 6. The Dawntreader
 7. Drifting
 8. Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair
 9. A Sailor's Life
10. Fools Rush In
11. Evening Star

Acoustic Bass – Dan Rieser
Cello – Anja Wood (tracks: 3)
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Marc Ribot (tracks: 2, 4, 5, 7, 11)
Piano, Electric Organ [Hammond Organ], Electric Piano – Jamie Saft
Viola – Hiroko Taguchi (tracks: 3)
Violin – Antoine Silverman (tracks: 3)
Violin, Arranged By [Strings] – Maxim Moston (tracks: 3)
Vocals, Kalimba – Youn Sun Nah

Youn Sun Nah is “one of the finest jazz singers on the planet.” (The Observer - UK). Four years have passed since her last highly successful opus, “Lento”, and now the extremely popular Korean, Parisbased vocal star is back, with a new album. It is a completely fresh project, recorded with a top New York band. Great intimacy, poetry and charm, pure-toned and emotional honesty – you can expect all of that from Youn Sun Nah. --- actmusic.com

On a stunning gig in London last September, the South Korean singer Youn Sun Nah showed how seamlessly she could move between impressionistic high drama, abstract improv, or a folk artist’s candid simplicity. This New York set takes her closer to the mainstream with a band including keyboardist-producer Jamie Saft and the inventive Marc Ribot alongside her regular guitarist Ulf Wakenius. She delectably catches the dreamy poetry of Joni Mitchell’s The Dawntreader and the tenderness of Fools Rush In, shakes long notes with a flute-like delicacy on Black Is the Colour of My True Love’s Hair, lifts Jimi Hendrix’s Drifting to a free furore with the guitarists. But the shuffle-strumming Paul Simon title track doesn’t really take off despite the singer’s distantly Peyroux-like airiness, and the generic soul-ballad Too Late (written by Saft and his songwriter wife Vanessa) could use a little of her improv savagery to puncture its faintly humdrum yearnings. You couldn’t miss Youn Sun Nah’s musicality in any setting, but this is rather a tame one by her standards. --- John Fordham, theguardian.com

Koreańska wokalistka jazzowa Youn Sun Nah po czterech latach wraca z nowym albumem. Artystka zdobyła w ostatnich latach ogromne uznanie dzięki zgrabnemu łączeniu elementów jazzu z muzyką pop, soul i folkiem. Jej wyjątkowe predyspozycje wokalne sprawiły, iż porównywana jest dziś do takich gwiazd jak Diana Krall czy Norah Jones. Nagrany w Nowym Jorku z tamtejszymi muzykami album "She Moves On" silnie eksponuje elementy muzyki zakorzenionej w kulturze Ameryki Północnej. Producentem albumu jest grający również na instrumentach klawiszowych Jamie Saft, artysta znany wcześniej z awangardowych dokonań i współpracy z takimi muzykami jak John Zorn czy Mark Ribot. W programie nowego albumu Youn Sun Nah znalazły się m.in. nowe wersje utworów z repertuaru Lou Reeda, Paula Simona, Joni Mitchell, Jimiego Hendrixa i Fairport Convention.

Wokalistka zdaje się równie swobodnie poruszać w obrębie intymnych osobistych ballad (klasycznie brzmiące "Traveller" i "The Dawntreader" oraz "Too Late", "No Other Time" i "Fools Rush In") jak estetyki rocka i bluesa ("Drifting") czy r'n'b ("Teach The Gifted Children").

Nowojorski zespół towarzyszący Youn Sun Nah dysponuje wyjątkowym brzmieniem, które idealnie dopasowane jest do predyspozycji koreańskiej piosenkarki, zarówno w zakresie jej ogromnych możliwości wokalnych, jak ekspresji i pełnych zaangażowania interpretacji.

Prawdziwym majstersztykiem w zakresie aranżacji instrumentalnej jest "She Moves On" Paula Simona, mieniący się kapitalnymi partiami gitary, stylowymi dźwiękami klawiszy i transowym podkładem rytmicznym. Poruszającą bluesową balladę "Too Late", Nah nagrała z udziałem klasycznego kwartetu smyczkowego Maxima Mostona, nadając kompozycji pianisty i producenta płyty Jamiego Safta, wyjątkowo stylową oprawę.

Z kolei "No Other Name" nagrana została tylko z towarzyszeniem akustycznej gitary grającego w pięciu utworach na płycie, Marca Ribota. Ta stylowa piosenka oraz ocierająca się o psychodelię wersja tradycyjnej pieśni amerykańskich Apalaków "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair", zdają się zdecydowanie odbiegać stylistycznie od reszty utworów, stanowiąc tym samym ciekawe urozmaicenie i kilkuminutowe oderwanie od panującej na płycie konwencji.

Youn Sun Nah zgrabnie potrafi połączyć fascynacje klasycznym stylem wokalnym genialnej Barbry Streisand ("Traveller", "The Dawntreader" i "Fools Rush In"), z typowo jazzową manierą wokalistek w rodzaju Dee Dee Bridgewater czy Patricii Barber. Z każdą kolejna płytą koreańska wokalistka zdaje się coraz bardziej zbliżać do elitarnej grupy największych jazzowych diw XXI wieku. Jej najnowsza płyta stanowi kolejny bardzo duży krok w tym kierunku. ---Robert Ratajczak, longplayrecenzje.blox.pl

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