Anjani
Blue Alert

Muffled emotions, yet still true emotions, poetry, style and talent. After all, what’s written at the top left of the cover is a guarantee. A bit cunning, that much is sure, but with such certification, the listener can rest assured: this is a product of high caliber.

Anjani Thomas, simply known as Anjani, born in Honolulu in 1959 and having moved to New York to chase the dream of a music career, was recommended to Leonard Cohen by friend and producer John Lissauer in 1983, just in time to contribute as a chorus member in "Hallelujah," and she would establish a profound sentimental and artistic relationship with the great songwriter. This relationship would endure over time, further consolidating in 2004 when Anjani reappeared as co-author of "On That Day" and especially "Nightingale," in my opinion the best track on "Dear Heather." Two years later, this "Blue Alert" arrives: the music is all by Anjani, Cohen takes on the role of producer and writes the lyrics: need I say, it's a winning formula.

"Blue Alert" is an album of exquisitely refined pop-jazz; the piano is the undisputed main instrument, supplemented by some strings and brass in the background. Anjani doesn't have the powerful timbre of Jennifer Warnes or Sharon Robinson’s soulful verve; hers is a delicate voice that helps create that muffled atmosphere present throughout the album, especially in tracks like "Innermost Door" and "Half The Perfect World," from which a warm and sensual sound emanates, achieved with utmost stylistic simplicity, "Never Got To Love You" and "Crazy To Love You," elegant piano ballads that drift towards lighter and more joyful sounds, further highlighting Anjani’s vocal versatility, and also "No One After You," where a graceful potentially radio-friendly refrain peeks through the sly synthesizers of co-producer John Lissauer. The shadowy title track "Blue Alert" and "The Golden Gate" add darker nuances; the latter especially presents an almost cinematic dramatic pathos, in the poignant interpretation, in the "impressionist" lyrics, and in the piano outro that fades masterfully. "The Mist" picks up the first verse of "True Love Leaves No Traces," then unfolds like a contemplative and wistful prayer. "Nightingale" reappears transfigured compared to "Dear Heather," from a cheerful folk tune to a stunning ballad interpreted by Anjani with sweetness and feeling, and finally, there is the album's gem, the perfect closure: "Thanks For The Dance," a wonderful waltz in its own imposing way, despite the additional instrumentation to the piano (clarinet, lap steel) being very discreet nonetheless; a perfect Leonard Cohen love song, speaking precisely of the unfinished story between the two artists: "It was fine it was fast, I was first I was last in line at the temple of pleasure, but the green was so green and the blue was so blue, I was so I and you were so you, the crisis was light as a feather."

"Blue Alert" by Anjani and Leonard Cohen is an album very easy to assimilate: captivating voice, catchy and simple melodies despite their refinement, that instantly stick in your head, as per the laws of radio business, but, and this is the substantial difference, they leave something inside, these are songs that hold a musical, artistic, poetic, and cultural stature; this is an album I recommend to everyone, not least because it ennobles a musical genre that record labels have debased in the name of the god money with glossy paper phenomena like the likes of Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Adele, and Carol Emerald. After all, beautiful things are often "hidden" by just a thin layer of dust, and it takes so little to discover them...