Annie Bandez has always been a thoroughly compelling and vibrant personality, but that magic has not always fully translated into her studio recordings. That fact has always been extremely frustrating for me, as she was clearly born to be a brilliant chanteuse- there is literally no one else that I am aware of that can simultaneously evoke Old Hollywood glamor, sultry cabaret decadence, heartbreak, and razor-sharp wit so effortlessly and winningly. Fortunately, her first complete album of original material with longtime collaborator Paul Wallfisch makes enormous progress towards bridging that gap. In fact, I think it might be completely bridged now—this is Little Annie's best album yet.
Genderful caught me pleasantly off-guard from the very first note, as "Tomorrow Will Be" launches into a shimmering synthesizer and drum machine groove that sounds absolutely nothing like the minor key torch songs that dominated the previous When Good Things Happen To Bad Pianos.Annie delivers her wryly optimistic free-associative lyrics ("tomorrow, wishes will have wings and we'll all be flying") in a breathy, conversational way that is strongly reminiscent of her earlier "Freddy and Me," but it works dramatically better here: it is an irresistibly dreamy and charming song.In fact, it is one of clear highlights of the album (and her career), but turns out to be anything but a fluke.Annie has evolved remarkably as a songwriter since 2006's Songs From the Coal Mine Canary: the transitions between verses and choruses are seamless, the shifting between genres is graceful, and her personality and sense of humor come across better than ever.
For his part, Wallfisch shows himself to be an excellent arranger—a skill that went largely unused on the much sparser Bad Pianos.I had no doubt that he was a skilled and versatile pianist, but he pulls out quite a few surprises here.In "Suitcase Full of Secrets," for example, he does a spectacular job of using lush strings, guitar stabs, and well-placed xylophone to create a very satisfying vintage soul/film noir soundtrack hybrid.Paul seems to have a very intuitive understanding of when to hang back and let Annie carry the song's weight and when some added density, harmony, and color are exactly what the song needs to achieve its dynamic ends. "The God Song" even manages to pull off a fiery Latin jazz/mariachi pastiche.Aggressive rhythms suit Bandez well- I wish she used them more often, as she is at her best when she is at her most animated.
Anyone familiar with the "songstress phase" of Annie's career will be unsurprised to learn that themes of regret and heartbreak are still very prominent on this album, but Genderful is considerably more spirited and funny than its predecessors.That wider emotional palette makes for a very listenable album and heightens the emotional resonance of its darker moments.Annie finally seems completely at ease within her chosen stylistic territory, which gives her the unwavering assurance necessary to combine a requiem for a dead NY Yankees manager and an impression of drag queen/disco legend Sylvester within the same song (the boisterous "Billy Martin Requiem") and pull it off beautifully.It is an excellent barometer of the album's quality that Annie is able to incorporate many things that are usually very ominous red flags for me (baseball, theatricality, and "cute" song titles like "Cutesy Bootsies" and "Zen Zexy Zage") with enough charisma, intelligence, and joie de vivre to make them actually enjoyable and fun.
Another thing I loved about this album is that my favorite Little Annie song ("Adrianna" from 2008's Brainwaves compilation) has finally made it onto an album.It is kind of an aberration in her oeuvre, approximating a more poignant NYC analogue to Tom Waits' early, "late-night Los Angeles" albums.I would definitely be very receptive to further piano balladry about homeless trannies and New York's pre-gentrification glory days, but Genderful in its current incarnation is still a remarkable effort anyway (and not creatively indebted to Tom Waits).Annie is at the top of her soulful, rambling, exuberant, and scathingly funny ("we're angry at our mommies while we drink our mochachinos") game here and Wallfisch proves to be the ablest of foils.This is an excellent album.
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