Natalie Merchant and her recently released Nonesuch debut, Leave Your Sleep, were the subject of a feature article in the Sunday New York Times. Merchant spoke with Times writer Jon Pareles about the project and all that went into making it. The Boston Herald gives the album an A, calling it "a contender for 2010’s best album." The Financial Times gives it five stars. The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and the Brisbane Times all give four stars to this "staggeringly elaborate project."
Natalie Merchant and her recently released Nonesuch debut album, Leave Your Sleep, are the subject of an extensive feature article in this weekend's Sunday New York Times. Merchant talks with Times music writer Jon Pareles about the project and all that went into the many years of its making: research, writing, arranging, recording, and putting it all together into the elegantly designed package released this past Tuesday.
For the article, Pareles also speaks with Nonesuch President Robert Hurwitz, who describes the album as "a pretty rare project ... I can’t think of anything quite like it."
Read the complete article at nytimes.com.
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The Boston Herald gives the album an A. All of those years dedicated to the project, which Pareles documents in the Times piece, paid off, says Herald reviewer Bill Brotherton. "Her painstaking efforts were worth every second spent," he writes. "This is intelligent, thoughtful pop music for kids of all ages-and a contender for 2010’s best album." Read the review at bostonherald.com.
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In the UK, the Financial Times gives the album a perfect five stars in a review available at ft.com. And in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and the Brisbane Times all give four stars to this "staggeringly elaborate project." Critic Michael Dwyer, whose review is published in the three papers, says it is Merchant's "empathy with time-worn words and sentiments that gives this labyrinthine album its unique, haunting resonance." Read the review at smh.com.au.
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Merchant appeared on yesterday's episode of Soundcheck from New York public radio station WNYC. You can listen to the entire episode and watch video footage of her performing the album's opening track, "Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience," in the WNYC studio at wnyc.org.
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She next performs songs from Leave Your Sleep live in a sold-out event at The Getty Center in Los Angeles this Tuesday. For information on other upcoming dates, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. To pick up a copy of the CD with the complete album included as high-quality MP3s at no additional cost, visit the Nonesuch Store.
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