Norah Jones – Day Breaks

Norah Jones – Day Breaks  (Blue Note Records, 2016)

Day Breaks is Jones’s sixth solo album. After 15 years in the industry and five albums under her belt, she’s got her sound down and she’s sticking to it. With her alto, muted jazz voice, armed with her piano and smooth bass lines, Jones is unstoppable. Over the years, she has consistently produced albums that are critically acclaimed and grow musically a little each time. Day Breaks is a jazz album—a slow-paced, no-frills jazz album. Unfortunately, a few of the songs in the middle of the album muddle together, as they sound too alike. While the songs are individually pleasing, there isn’t an apparent musical story throughout the record. Like a lot of Jones’s albums, the sound is nostalgic, with an added twinge of melancholy. The piano takes up a lot of room in the album, gracing us with its beautiful solos, song after song. “Fine lines, moments pass by, and I cry / Rewind, step behind, it’s hard to find the flipside,” she sings in her jazz-rock tune, “Flipside.”

Trial track: “Day Breaks”

8/10

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