Madeleine Peyroux Let's Walk LP (Translucent Cobalt Vinyl)

TAS Rated 4/5 Music, 4/5 Sonics in the September 2024 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

"Let us advance our mortal bodies up
Where hearts and minds will go
Let's walk, let's roll."

So sings Madeleine Peyroux on the upbeat title track of her captivating ninth album, Let's Walk, the acclaimed singer-songwriter's most assured, courageous work to date. Powered by the distinctive, honeyed croon that delivered her from the Paris streets to concert halls, these ten unabashedly personal songs, all co-written by the versatile Peyroux, deftly interweave jazz, folk, and chamber pop, with themes ranging from the confessional to the political, from whimsy to yearning. In every note, Peyroux digs deep, rendering this exquisite work with the disarming grace and gravitas of an artist in peak form.

Let's Walk was a long time coming, but well worth the wait. Following Peyroux's 2018 album, Anthem, the enforced isolation of the global pandemic made any real-time community gathering impossible. From a creative standpoint, however, Covid offered Peyroux a silver lining: she seized the opportunity to hunker down with longtime collaborator, multi-instrumentalist Jon Herington (Steely Dan, Lucy Kaplansky). The pair reflected on the seismic era at hand and wrote and re-wrote in what Peyroux calls "a shadow of reckoning."

When multi-Emmy-and-Grammy-winning producer Elliott Scheiner (Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles) heard a sampling of the new material, including "Let's Walk," he mandated "no covers" for the album. The longtime studio veteran knew the time was ripe to highlight Peyroux's incisive, often topical lyrics meshed with Herington's ear for melody and arrangements.

Let's Walk finds Madeleine Peyroux in the most freely creative place of her celebrated career. With eight albums and worldwide acclaim, she refuses to stand still as she arrives at a new artistic and creative plateau. True artists always continue to move forward, much like the album title suggests.

While Peyroux expertly commands the styles and forms she always has, her wonderful, songwriting elevates Let's Walk to an entirely different level. Essential.

The whole album is deep indeed, from the Billie Holiday-ish cool groove of 'Blues for Heaven' to the spoken-sung closing PSA advocating healthy living, 'Take Care.' Deep, like Madeleine Peyroux.