Idolator’s Record-Review Round-Up: Norah Jones Is Dreamy, But Kinda Sleep-Inducing, Too

– “Without the Hoagy Carmichael and Duke Ellington covers and the jazz-inflected compositions of her guitarist Jesse Harris (whose song “Don’t Know Why” catapulted Jones to stardom), Not Too Late has a more consistent singer-songwriter feel. And that translates to a subtle, but piquant, new dark streak that goes a long way toward lifting Jones’s songs out of the realm of background music.” [Boston Globe] – “Given Jones’ recent attempts to stretch, one might expect Not Too Late to be a radical departure from her jazz-blues debut, 2002’s Come Away With Me, and her countrified 2004 follow-up, Feels Like Home. But sonically, at least, the album takes only a small step away from the latte-lover mainstream. Produced by her bassist and boyfriend, Lee Alexander, Not Too Late has a slightly rougher, home-studio sound, yet the music — slow, gorgeous dream-pop ballads — is sleepier than ever.” [Entertainment Weekly] – “Jones’s voice, always more characterful than the easy-listening tag ever implied, sometimes shifts to a strange place between Madeleine Peyroux’s or Diane Krall’s jazzy smokiness (they’re all Billie Holiday fans) and the weird pop delicacy of a Joanna Newsom. But Jones’s and partner Lee Alexander’s tunes need to improve if the singer isn’t to retreat to covering classics again, as she almost certainly will. It’s pretty music (though the sugary Little Room gets to tooth-twinge point), beautifully performed. But Norah Jones has more to offer than this, and the needs of the EMI boardroom probably won’t help her find it.” [The Guardian]