10 Cent Wings

Album Review

With the release of 10 Cent Wings, Jonatha Brooke completed the transition from her band the Story to a solo career (after two Story albums and one as "Jonatha Brooke and the Story"). She also made a musical transition from jazzy folk-pop to something much more radio-friendly. Modern rock radio was glutted with female singer-songwriters in the mid-1990s, and it's tempting to believe this record was a deliberate attempt to be the next Sarah McLachlan or Meredith Brooks. Half of the songs are as well-written and catchy as anything this gifted songwriter had released to date — she is a master of melody, and her lyrics have bite and brains. But the middle of the record is a significant disapointment. Her longtime producer, Alain Mallet, has an excellent ear for mimicking other styles. On Brooke's previous records, and on the best of these tracks, Mallet meshes divergent styles the way a painter blends colors to make a unique new shade. Too often on 10 Cent Wings the effect is closer to that of a junk sculpture: Mallet pastes together various genres without meshing them, and often the verses, chorus and bridge each have a radically different style. There are undiluted snatches of Shawn Colvin, Annie Lennox, Portishead, Madonna, Collective Soul, Elton John, Jamiroquai, Amy Grant, the Beatles, and a myriad of others. Mallet's experimetation is often ingenious but rarely inventive. It's not an accident that one of the album's freshest tracks ("Annie") features only Brooke and her acoustic guitar — sometimes restraint is the most creative option.