Multitalented bassist extraordinaire Sara Lee has finally broken out on
her own and released the wonderful and aptly titled debut album Make
It Beautiful. For too long, Lee's been better known for the artists
and groups with whom she's worked -- a list that reads like a Who's Who
of all that's hip, critically cool, and worth listening to in
contemporary pop music -- than for her own unique musical persona. With
Make It Beautiful, she finally emerges from behind the shadow of
her peers to assert her own captivating musical vision.
Besides her amazing and well-documented skills on the bass guitar, Lee
demonstrates a barrage of other talents most music fans probably didn't
realize she had. In addition to playing bass, Lee sings both lead and
background vocals, plays guitar and keyboards, and wrote or co-wrote
many of the songs on the album.
She's also a talented singer whose lovely voice is a seductive smoky
alto with a smoldering, breathy huskiness that glides in, out, and over
the album's songs like warm honey. Even when singing about heartbreak or
loneliness, her voice soothes and dulls the inherent pain of such
experiences, lulling one into a contemplative mood that's rather like a
chilled-out blues.
There's a certain sameness to Beautiful, with little variation in
its tempos, genres, or musical stylings. But that's not meant as
criticism. The album's homogeneous sound is more of a virtue than a
drawback, giving Beautiful a cohesive character that wears much
better, particularly repeatedly, than a more varied album would, where
you only listen to those songs that fit your mood at any given time. And
the homo-positive nature of many of the album's well-written,
intelligent lyrics -- with their undisguised, same-gender-loving,
third-person pronouns -- is both refreshing and a pleasure to hear.
Besides Lee's beautiful voice and musical chops, exemplified by the
wonderfully quirky funk of the bass lines she's perfected over the
years, Make It Beautiful features songwriting and musical support
from a number of noted musical artists, including DiFranco, Emily
Saliers of the Indigo Girls, Gail Ann Dorsey, Kristen Hall, Pal Shazar,
and Andy Gill of Gang of Four.
-- Karl Knapper
About Sara Lee
Sara Lee grew up in rural England. While working at Polydor Records, she
got the opportunity to play with musical legend Robert Fripp, of King
Crimson, League of Crafty Gentlemen, Eno, and Frippertronics fame. This
led to bigger gigs and increasingly more visible roles, with Robin
Hitchcock and Gang of Four. After leaving Gang of Four and moving to the
U.S., Lee became a much-in-demand studio and touring band musician,
working with the B-52's, the Indigo Girls, Joan Osbourne, Fiona Apple,
Lisa Germano, Talvin Singh, Benmont Tench, Carla Bley, Catherine Wheel,
Ferron, Ani DiFranco, and others. Her work with DiFranco landed her a
deal with her Righteous Babe Records label. Now she's released her
long-awaited first solo album, Make It Beautiful, for which
DiFranco wrote some of the songs and performs on.
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