This is a fine, largely original album, give or take a handful of covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Lennon and McCartney, and Robert Johnson, and a couple from a recently kindled composing partnership with the Stones' Bill Wyman. The feel is darker, spookier and earthier than on 2009's Bare Bones (Cassandra Wilson producer Craig Street is clearly an influential presence), with contributions from Tom Waits guitarist Marc Ribot and New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint helping establish a simmering, semi-abstract backdrop for Peyroux's measured delivery and bluesy elisions. A major highlight is the echoing, gothic account of Johnson's Love in Vain. It's part of a sequence of more weighty, atmospheric pieces that build from the quirky, ecstatic title track through the chunky guitar and bass riffs of Dylan's I Threw It All Away and on to the wistful original The Way of All Things – which Peyroux negotiates with her delicate control of small sounds, and complements with a rougher and more worldly quality that goes back to the early jazz and blues methods she understands so well.
- By John Fordham (The Guardian)
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