KD LANG
Ingénue 9/10 Canadian’s “post-nuclear cabaret” set revisited
Anyone for whom Ingénue was an introduction to KD Lang might well have been surprised to discover that she launched her career with a Patsy Cline tribute band and sang in country and western bars. But if the heavily garlanded Canadian’s work has become progressively more about the torch and less about the twang, then pinning it down precisely has seldom been easy – one of the very reasons Ingénue still dazzles, 25 years on. Luminous, languid and seductive to the point of intoxication, the Grammywinning breakthrough tracks the path of unrequited love, in an alchemical mix of jazz, pop, torch song, cabaret and the Great American Songbook, with a light, honeyed sheen applied to balance its blue smokiness. This remastered reissue, which follows last year’s excellent case/lang/veirs album, proves its status as a modern classic – not only with its Big Pop Hit, “Constant Craving”, but also via the sinuous, klezmer-threaded “Still Thrives This Love” and an elegantly dramatic “Outside Myself”, with piano and pedal steel. Perfectly pitched, in pretty much every way; that Lang’s voice is a knockout goes without saying. Extras: 7/10 Disc of eight previously unreleased songs from 1993’s MTV Unplugged set, with fine arrangements. “Wash Me Clean” – drenched equally in desire and abandonment – is a highlight.