The Morning News

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

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Today’s Feature: “Press 1 for Arabic” by Gigi Douban
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Albums

Chris Lee, Plays & Sings Torch’d Songs, Charivari Hymns & Oriki Blue-Marche

Showing more maturity and self-assurance than the self-titled debut of last year, Plays & Sings Torch’d Songs… shows an overt…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rosecrans Baldwin
TMN co-editor Rosecrans Baldwin lives in Paris, France. He founded The Morning News with Andrew Womack in 1999 and has been waking up early ever since. His first novel, You Lost Me There, is coming out soon with Riverhead Books. He currently writes the Letters from Paris column for TMN. His work has elsewhere appeared in The New York Times, New York, The Nation, and on NPR’s All Things Considered. His personal web site is useless, unless you want to know what he is up to next. Someday his ashes will be tossed off Mount Desert Island.
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Showing more maturity and self-assurance than the self-titled debut of last year, Plays & Sings Torch’d Songs… shows an overt sense of confidence: some tracks are multi-layered, with relaxed horns, vocal harmonies, extra keyboards or guitar; others are strong and simple, just bass, guitar and Lee's voice. And God, that voice: Lee’s singing is masterfully sincere, at once longing and grateful, wistful and pained; if it’s possible to sing honestly and richly, in both tone and lyrics, Lee’s found it. Read full review at neumu.

—Published September 19, 2001