Lisa Markley – Keep The Window Open
I have always appreciated any inclusion of jazz into a folk repertoire. The suggestion of musical knowledge beyond the six or so guitar chords in my own toolbox was like a hit of new spice at an unfamiliar restaurant.
Lisa Markley’s new album, Keep the Window Open, is a bouquet of aural spices.
Markley is a member of the folk trio The Malvinas. I have been a fan of the group for about two decades.
Markley’s solo work is mostly in a jazz vein. She has an exquisite sense of control and phrasing. In a perfect world, she would be a known jazz diva.
In her most recent phase, she collaborates mostly with her husband, crackerjack guitarist Bruce Balmer. Lucky us.
The album bursts out of the gate with “A Tree Fell in the Woods,” a metaphoric meteor for this time in America. What first appears to be a cartoon-like treatise on a bear rummaging the garbage and looking for a party turns into the harsh reality of Shell games and paper tigers / Composed by scoundrels cheats and liars / Written into law / Wrap it in a flag.
The crown jewel, for this listener, is track two, “Autumn Falls.” Markley’s voice pours like honey over her lyrics: Autumn falls / Shadows grow long / Autumn falls / Pink slips, death and taxes / Split the wood / Time for knitting hats when / Autumn falls. Balmer’s lead guitar is excruciatingly beautiful. If he’d used a sax, in a different era, I’d have thought it was John Coltrane.
“Cradle Song” is a departure from the album’s overall jazz feel and has a folky vibe. Markley’s banjo is perfect (she’s no slouch on any fretboard). The childlike wonder of the lyrics Ask the moon not to rise / And the Milky Way to shine so bright are accented with the ringing banjo and Balmer’s guitar harmonics.
“A Child’s Errand,” with its wistful wisps of memories appears to be an autobiographical look backward at opportunities missed. Its regretful air is accentuated by the lyrical bass of jazz veteran Rich Syracuse, (Mose Allison, Kurt Elling).
“Stars Rained Down” is Markley’s declaration of passion to her husband:
Lay those lips on me again / Just like the first time they found mine. Balmer’s lead guitar does an equally passionate dance around Markley’s smoky vocal.
Two of Bruce Balmer’s songs (“It Follows” and “Stella Bought Starlight”) are included and are eye-opening, revealing Balmer’s poetic writing paired with his guitar work: When stars fall in the woods / To rustle down the ancient roads / They break the mold / They just get old and drop all pretenses. (“It Follows”) Markley’s vocals, of course, more than do justice to both.
“At Sea” is an a cappella piece which is as astonishing for the virtuosity of its vocal overlap as it is for Markley’s admission of malaise. There’s an accompanying video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOfpjHN4jZg
There is an opportunity here to indulge in an appreciation of an exalted adult expression of the puzzles and wonders of life. I am not at all embarrassed to call it a “Starry Skies” of music.
Buy the album here: https://lisamarkley.bandcamp.com
and visit: https://lisamarkley.com