Kaleidoscope

Canadian singer Mai-Liis' debut, 'Mai-Liis On Life', continued to resonate at the time due to the intelligent mix of crooner style and singer-songwriter genre enriched with her own lyrics and music. On 'Kaleidoscope' she effortlessly repeats this tour de force.

No major changes compared to 'Mai-Liis On Life' in terms of the backing group, except for a few extra guest musicians. Producer Greta Matassa is also back so that the timbre was preserved. Mai-Liis wrote all the lyrics again. For the music she could once again count on the support of pianist Darin Clendenin. And yet this is not a repetition exercise. Just like on her debut, no standards since her personal stories are just as timeless and universal. The fact that she only started her career at a later age and had enough life experience is no surprise. Mai-Liis does not have to rely on hip clips or extravagant flashes on social media, this is all taken straight from life.

With opening track 'Book' she lets the listener into her intimate world without inhibitions. The velvety and smoky voice combined with a light "Latin vibe" and adapted trumpet solo by Charlie Porter makes you feel as if you are suddenly dropped into a small jazz club where an artist gives the best of himself in the early hours, only for loyal customers after the main audience has long since left. In 'Wash Away The Wrong' she goes even further while Porter, now with sourdine, accentuates the melancholy more strongly.

From here on you are completely under her spell and you will never get home before dawn. 'What If I Met You Then' draws the listener even deeper into the not so rosy past of the singer. Until she meets the right person and a soft melody with swing undertones provides a ray of light. Optimism and a new beginning follow in the swinging 'New Year's Ditty' soaked in the blues and colored by saxophonist Alexey Nikolaev.

'Whitehorse, Yukon' is an unvarnished tribute to Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Pure poetry with brilliant roles for flutist Hans Teuber and guitarist Brian Monroney. Julie London through and through, while a little later she takes on the role of a "femme fatale" for whom things don't end so well. And again that yearning sax of Nikolaev ('Elmo'). In line with all the above, we get the mid-tempo swinging 'Wondrin'', the challenging 'Daddy's Girl Blues' (!) and the hopeful closing track 'Springtime'.

Mai-Liis as the new Norah Jones and above all the female counterpart of the Canadian crooner and singer-songwriter Alex Bird.