I had "Viper Mad" stuck in my head throughout the month of December and I have this album to blame! It features the hottest contemporary version of the song I've heard and I've heard dozens from gage enamored jazz bands all over the world. Released in October, I received nudges from fans telling me to review this album almost immediately.
It's truly something special. I assumed on my first listen they had label backing, and I imagined some of these tunes soon appearing in Netflix period noirs like Babylon Berlin. Indeed I see those placements in this bands future, but this album is self released.
The album kicks off with a haunting yet bouncy rendition of "Russian Caravan", with full lyric and verse. It sets a dark tone, not dark like Halloween, dark like Three Penny Opera. Ballad songs are prominent, and even the songs that don't tell a story feel like they do. The special fears of young women are front and center. "Mack The Knife" isn't on this album but it would fit right in.
"Show Girl" is about a girl manipulated by a man into a lifestyle she's not proud of. "Picture Message Blues" is about the very modern issue of men sending unsolicited pictures of their "junk" to women they've just met. "Tell Liza 'bout Me" is sung from the perspective of a man misleading a women about his past, much as people do in online dating. Within that context, older songs like "Baby Don't Tear
