Fans get a first look at the jazz singer-songwriters new album in lyric music video release.
Jazz artist Kristen Lee Sergeant has announced the proposed 2022 release of her new album FALLING, through Tiger Turn Productions. Scheduled to drop on February 24th, Falling will add to Ms. Sergeant's constantly growing reputation for artistic exploration and versatility. Combining the roles of vocalist, composer, artist and curator in an album that breaks away from the format and feel of her previous albums, Kristen's concept album represents her fall into a daring and creative leap of faith with her artistry.
Accompanied on the album by Jeb Patton (piano), Hannah Marks (bass), Jay Sawyer (drums), Jody Redhage Ferber (cello) and Ted Nash (soprano saxophone), Sergeant revisits her formative feel for musical drama. This third album, described as a "wholly-immersive experience" is a concept album designed to take the listener on a musical journey that touches on various emotional highs and lows, informed by the times in which we live, but not controlled by them.
December 3rd, the first single "Let's Fall" will drop online on streaming platforms, and on YouTube by way of a lyric video. On this single, Kristen Lee presents a husky nighttime landscape filled with nocturnal thrills that leans into old Vaudeville vibes, rich with layers from her quintet, with Patton shining through as soloist.
Additional singles from the recording, "Sisyphus" and "Orpheus" will, similarly, drop online in advance of the album's release in February. The first of the two allows Sergeant a plethora of storytelling opportunities, as she tells the universally known and understood tale of pushing the rock up the hill, until, by the end of the track, the tune transports the band and the listener to bobbing, lilting, musical heights. With the second proposed single release, Sergeant asks the question "What might Orpheus sound like?" and drummer Jay Sawyer grooves in triple time to present an answer, as a Greek chorus of vocal arrangement nestles the listener into Kristen's storytelling pocket.
With a list of song titles that are seductive and imaginative, the first impression of this new album from Kristen Lee Sergeant is that it is an elegant and emotional musical journey to be taken over and over, especially when tempted by the presence on the album of a track titled "Black Magic" that is described as KLS and Ted Nash's "warring trades and vaults into unhinged surrender." Compositions inspired by meeting an astronaut ("Infinity Blues") and the exploration of Renaissance art ("Chiaroscuro") provide Sergeant and co. with musical conversations, while "Honey" and "Birdsong" overload the album with lyrical imagery in musical declarations like "The prize isn't worth the game," from the track "Birdsong" and the provocative question, "Aren't I naked enough for you?" from "Better Off."
Drawing inspiration from her usual playground in the jazz genre, Kristen Lee layers in elements of musical theater and Seventies pop music, to flesh out her musical vocabulary, creating a vivid musical portrait of the act of "Falling." Says Ms. Sergeant, "From Greek myths to outer space, I hope to bring listeners on a rewarding and thoughtful journey in sound, and I get to be their Virgil, stumbling down ahead of them."
Conceived as a rich multidisciplinary work, partnered with the recording is an immersive conceptual concert, scheduled to take place on March 31 at Joe's Pub within The Public Theater in New York City.
Find LET'S FALL on Apple Music HERE and on Spotify HERE.
Kristen Lee Sergeant has a Facebook Music Page HERE.
FALLING Track listing:
1. Let's Fall 4:04
2. Sisyphus 4:19
3. Birdsong 3:37
4. Chiaroscuro 4:30
5. Honey
6.. Infinity Blues 4:11
7. Better Off 3:18
8. Orpheus 3:48
9. Autumn Nocturne 3:23 (Josef Myrow, Kim Gannon)
10. That Old Black Magic (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer)
All music by Kristen Lee Sergeant unless otherwise noted.
Videos