El Madmo
El Madmo

THE REVIEW

El Madmo is the acronym for the three members of the band, namely El aka Daru Oda (bass), Maddie aka Norah Jones (Guitar), and Mo aka Andrew Borger (Drums). It is one of the side projects that the much-lauded Geethali Norah Jones Shankar has set up in recent years, this time together with Daru Oda and Andrew Borger (both already in the Handsome Band).

That sweet Norah was an eclectic character was already understood from her solo career; after all, such a father (Ravi Shankar) is a guarantee of her musical preparation. The first three albums show the link that the New York artist has with the best American musical tradition. The chamber and colloquial jazz of the first album was followed by two albums in which Jones explored country, blues, and jazz, all imbued with those pop veins that made her work accessible to the general public. In 2006, together with other longtime friends, she gave birth to the Little Willies project, more influenced by blues and country sounds, with which Norah rediscovers the great classics of American musical tradition.

With the El Madmo project, Norah takes a turn in her career by experimenting with new sounds, closer to rock. This turn will later lead to the release of two records (The Fall and Little Broken Hearts) in which she will collaborate with big names in the American Alternative scene (Ryan Adams, Will Sheff, and Danger Mouse). The project was born almost as a joke and appears as a parenthesis in which Jones wanted to have fun experimenting. Starting with the album cover, which portrays the group members transformed into comics. The appearances shown on the album cover were then revisited during the tour supporting the album; the three appeared on stage dressed as superheroes, intent on battling the villain of the moment with their musical instruments. Part of the critics presented this as Norah Jones & Co.'s garage-punk project; I'll say right away, this album has very little to do with Garage-Punk, except for a decidedly dirtier sound (compared to Jones' classic productions), and the trio formation (Guitar, Bass, and Drums) that recalls the classic Garage-Punk ensemble.

The album is still enjoyable and fun. In some passages, the true attitude of solo Jones emerges, but overall it's surprising to hear her deliver an "aggressive" vocal. The music, the arrangements are of absolute depth; after all, we are dealing with skilled musicians capable of engaging with very different musical registers. It starts with the One-Two-Three (and we immediately think of a certain Dee-Dee Ramone) of "Carlo!" and its one minute and fifty-seven seconds of duration (Live Fast Die Young??), and it's already clear how far we are from the sounds Jones had accustomed us to. At this point, it's easy to put aside the sweet Norah and embrace the aggressive Maddie. The album flows pleasantly through more subdued yet still rock moments, reminiscent of Tom Waits from the "Swordfishtrombones" and "Rain Dogs" era (Norah Jones has never hidden her admiration for the ace of Pomona... but don't expect the heights reached by the two aforementioned albums), and surprising attacks that really touch punk (to be clear, not the English one), as in "Sweet Adrenaline," which is the most successful track of the album.

In conclusion, I would like to highlight that the album was released by New York's independent Team Love, a label founded in 2003 by Conor Oberst (alias Bright Eyes) and Nate Krenkel; also, in this case, a decent guarantee.