Caro Emerald
The Shocking Miss Emerald

Following the success achieved from her debut "Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor," whose extracts also entered rotation on Italian radio stations, Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw, known as Caro Emerald, returns to the music scene three years after that fortunate LP with "The Shocking Miss Emerald," which represents an evolution of the musical style already experimented in the previous record. For those who don't know, the 31-year-old Dutch artist fits into the retro trend initiated (rightly or wrongly, you decide) by the late Amy Winehouse. However, unlike other colleagues who have ridden the wave of success only to end up as nothing more than pale imitations (think of the unlistenable Duffy, for example), van der Leeuw does not just do the task imposed by the producer, but thanks to her record collaborators, she manages to imprint a considerable personality into her songs that distinguish her from almost any artist currently in radio rotation and beyond.

Our Caroline has always been a scholar of jazz music, as well as a vocal teacher of the same genre, which in her records gets mixed with almost hip-hop beats and electronic sounds (consider singles like "Stuck" or "Back It Up"); to crown it all, there is an exquisitely elegant voice with a level of interpretive class that is increasingly rare to find. Earlier, however, I mentioned an evolution of this tried and effective sound: while "Deleted Scenes..." seemed like listening to an LP freshly recorded in a studio some decades ago, in "The Shocking Miss Emerald," the atmosphere has a broader scope, and from the aforementioned recording studio, one finds themselves catapulted to the streets and sidewalks of a very '20s Paris. To get a better idea, take Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" and imagine the sequences set in the past. Done? Well, simply put, instead of the film's original soundtrack, this CD would fit perfectly. What I just said is perfectly encapsulated in the delightful tango rhythm single "Tangled Up," which is currently enjoying considerable success even here in Italy, and its video was shot in Paris. Such an atmosphere, however, couldn't be best rendered without a reduction of electronic inserts in the songs: thus, despite having tracks where the DJ's scratching, heavily used in the previous album, is felt, and the rhythm is almost electro-swing ("Pack Up the Louie," "The Maestro," "Liquid Lunch"), there is a notably increased presence of acoustic instruments, particularly strings, which in tracks like "The Wonderful in You," "Black Valentine," and "I Belong to You" make the listener feel as if they're seated at a table in an elegant, smoky lounge bar situated on a Paris street overlooking the Seine. There's also no shortage of more typically jazz pieces, such as the very successful "Excuse My French" and the pleasantly frivolous "One Day," as well as the very successful "Paris." Congratulations, therefore, to David Schreus and Vincent Degiorgio, who curated the production of the album and its sound, and to Caro Emerald, who makes it unique with her excellent vocal personality from times long past.

In conclusion, what we have in our hands is a solid album, well-made in every aspect, and it will surely serve as a pleasant and uncommitted background for the ears of those who choose to listen to it.