Norah Jones is "Chasing Pirates" with New Single

I've said it before and I'll say it again...Norah Jones bores me. True as this may be, I continue to buy her albums because every so often I find myself in the mood for the calming, soothing qualities of her impeccably perfect voice. I like my jazz music like I like my house music...with a nice vocal and Norah Jones satisfies me every time. Why then does she bore me? Good question! I don't really have the answer. There's always one or two tracks on her albums that I enjoy, and the rest I don't bother listening to more than once or twice. They aren't filler, don't get me wrong! I guess I'm just a slave for the radio single! If I hear it, and it starts to get play I start to get into it. The funny thing is...I don't listen to the radio any more, so why am I letting the radio choose what album tracks I listen to?

Lately my opinion on the traditional single has started to change. As I find myself working in front of a computer all day long typing mindlessly for 8 hours a day, I've been giving full albums a chance. I have nothing better to do! That being said, I think I am going to give Norah Jones a chance. The only album I really ever listened to more than once was her debut, Come Away With Me. I purchased the follow ups, Feels Like Home and Not Too Late, but I don't think I can name a single track on either of those albums.

As Jones gears up to release her 4th studio album, The Fall, on November 17th (November 16th in Europe), the album's lead single, "Chasing Pirates" is available digitally, starting today, October 13th (November 15th in the UK). I am more excited about this new Norah Jones album than I have been for any of her previous records. Why? Because she's doing something different. According to Jones, "For this record, I just had a sound in my head." She continues, "I wanted the grooves to be more present and heavy. And I also just wanted to do something different." This is VERY exciting...different is good.

Newsweek's Pop Vox Blog parallels my thoughts on Jones' discography EXACTLY, writing "Norah Jones could have kept recording iterations of Come Away With Me for decades....Clearly, that's not what she's doing." This is very exciting indeed. "The first single, "Chasing Pirates," is a head-bobbing, compact little song whose catchy hook could put Jones on radio stations that may have spun her only rarely before." I'm listening...the writer continues, "what Jones has done with the new record is indeed another departure. Only this time she's heading down a louder, dusted-up rock path." Sounds BRILLIANT to me.

The Fall features brand new collaborators including Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, Modest Mouse), Ryan Adams, and her old stand-by Jesse Harris. Jones also has assembled a new batch of musicians including drummers Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.), and James Gadson (Bill Withers), keyboardist James Poyser (Erykah Badu, Al Green), and guitarists Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) and Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer). With a crew like this behind, I'd even be game to go see Jones play a live gig. Well...it's midnight...let's see if the single is on iTunes yet. -EDIT- I LOVE the single. It's out on iTunes now. Get it HERE.

Photos by Autumn de Wilde

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