Album: Madeleine Peyroux – Let’s Walk – Review

Madeleine Peyroux made a name for herself with her second album in 2004. Carefree love. It consists almost entirely of covers, performed in a quiet, jazzy-bluesy shuffle reminiscent of singers from the 1930s. She never rose to that height again, but she carved out a decent career, mostly exploring similar sonic territory.

Her new album, her first in six years, doesn’t stray far from the old path, but consists entirely of originals written with regular collaborator Jon Herrington. Although it’s peppered with songs that have something to say, it’s a wonderfully relaxed summer listen.

Contrary to popular belief, Peyroux is not French. She grew up on the east and west coasts of her native America. However, she spent a few years in Paris and enjoyed the flavors of the city, which have always been incorporated into her music. let’s go has a chanson feel to it and one song, the slightly nasal “Et Puis”, is sung in French.

Peyroux tackles deep themes in the lyrics, such as the murders that launched the Black Lives Matter movement in “How I Wish,” a mournful waltz in which she sings of “empty fear” and the “path between fear and shame.” The song “Nothing Personal” is about sexual abuse. Its gentle, slow moodiness belies its lyrical brutality. It begins, “You rape me/I feel that you hate me.”

However, the album is not grim. Serious topics are addressed, but let’s go does indeed move restlessly between different musical styles. The opener, “Find True Love,” is a sparkling, muted tribute to New Orleans, with snappy lyrics. The title song references civil rights marches and is exuberant doo-wop with a gospel theme. “Me and the Mosquito” is a flamenco song, as the title suggests.

Whatever she sings, Peyroux runs it through her stylistic filter and makes it palatable. What she makes of it is basically easy to listen to, even on laid-back blues tunes like “Please Come on Inside” and the jazzy, upbeat “Showman Dan.” But she does it with intelligence and wit, culturally aware and musically good-natured.

Below: Watch the video for “Please Come Inside” by Madeleine Peyroux from her album let’s go