Stereophile, December 2002
By John Swenson
Patricia Barber is more than a poet, more than a singer,
more than a songwriter. None of these categories alone can do justice to the fullness
of her artistic presentation. Her strikingly thoughtful and clever lyrics seem
naked on the page. She twists each syllable rhythmically, attaching subtle shades
of melodic variation in a voice that often whispers but never shouts. Her audacious
approach to melody and song structure should place her in rare company as a jazz
singer, yet this work begs to be seen more in the context of crossover masters
from Tony Bennett to Joni Mitchell. The songs themselves are so personal, so evanescently
caught up in her performances, that it's hard to imagine other people singing
them. But you could say the same thing of another artist Barber occasionally resembles,
Mose Allison, whose quirky compositions have traveled well.
On Verse, Barber relies less on her own piano playing than on the atmospheric
settings created by bassist Michael Arnopol and drummer Joey Baron (Eric Montzka
takes over the drums on the album's centerpiece "I Could Eat Your Words")
and outstanding lead performances from trumpeter Dave Douglas (check the muted
solo on "Regular Pleasures") and guitarist Neal Alger, whose playing
ranges from contemplative acoustic solos to searing, pointillist electric accents.
But all this inspired music is very much in service word structures. The frozen-smile
horrors of "The Fire," the brutal self-mutilation of "Pieces,"
the somnambulist democracy of "Regular Pleasures,"-each is an incisive
observation about the soul-destroying nature of contemporary life.
The album ends on a masterpiece, "If I Were Blue." Floating along on
a deep, resonant melodic line, Barber likens her mood to striking images associated
with different artists. "Bring on the pelting rain," she softly cries,
"palpable sensual pain / like Goya in his studio / in the thick of night
/ absence is / dull and silent."