Annie Lennox unveils her new album "Nostalgia" in London

Annie Lennox unveiled her new record Nostalgia to a crowd of industry people and journalists at the “20th Century Theatre” in West London.

Nostalgia - out on the 27th of October in the UK - comes four years after her “A Christmas Cornucopia” holiday album which was released in 2010.

Produced by Mike Stevens and Don Was, Nostalgia is a collection of songs from the classic American Songbook. Lennox herself explained on stage during a Q&A session: "They are quintessentially American songs, but coming from the North East of Scotland we used to dance to stacks music and music that was coming from Detroit. My parents used to have some old LPs but jazz was a bit too sophisticated, this is a gentle form of jazz. What connects me to the songs is the inherent blues nature."

Lennox started working on the album last summer and - surprisingly - admitted that YouTube was an important tool in her research. She said: "I just went to YouTube because it is an incredible archive and I found the Boswell Sister’s version of Mood Indigo, my version has a nod to theirs.”

An album of classics of this kind is certainly risky, but Lennox was not afraid of that: “Every time you do anything is a risk, but at the end of the day you do it anyway.” On top of that, the number of greats that performed the songs could have made the recording of this album a little daunting, but Lennox states: "I couldn’t let other people’ version so f these songs be daunting. I had to transcribe and create the song, create new chords and a new version that puts you into communion with the deepest aspects of a song.”

This also applies to perhaps the standard of all standards, "Summertime". On recording that song, Lennox said: ""Summertime" is the song people will perform in living rooms next to chopsticks. I didn’t actually want to do Summertime, I was biased against it but when I started to explore the song I ended up finding a way to come in in on the beat from the first line, from there I decided to set the tone differently than in other versions. I’m painting a horizon, a landscape by holding the note on “..time”. There’s something really haunting about that note for me."

She added: "The album is like a journey that goes very deep with “Bitter Fruit”, a song that should floor you. On vinyl that’s the end of the first side and then you flip it around and you get a bit of redemption with “God Bless the Child”. The nostalgia I’m referring to on the album is something that is gone and you can’t go back to.”

For those who were hoping that Lennox would release an album of original songs, during the Q&A she said “I’m too happy to write”, acknowledging that misery is a great catalyst for good music but it’s not a state of mind you'd want to be in 24/7.

Nostalgia's arrangements and instrumentation are kept low key and Lennox’s voice can soar above them (although, in this writer’s opinion, the use of lush strings in almost every track was a tad unnecessary).

From the selection played at the event, songs like "Georgia on my Mind", "Mood Indigo" and "I Put a Spell on You" were highlights, but this is the kind of album that may require a few spins in order to truly get into the mood.

Annie Lennox is back, the new material may not appeal to all fans of her original solo material or to all Eurythmics fans, but it makes a statement. The inspiration to pen groundbreaking songs may be gone but Lennox is still one of the best female singers of our time and it’s great to see her put her instrument to good use on Nostalgia.

Track Listing:

1. Memphis in June

2. Georgia on my Mind

3. I Put a Spell on You

4. Summertime

5. I Cover the Waterfront

6. Strange Fruit

7. God Bless the Child

8. You Belong to Me

9. September in the Rain

10. I Can Dream Can't I?

11. The Nearness of You

12. Mood Indigo


(Andrea Leonelli)