Folklore - review

Nelly furtado is a beautiful and intelligent person. I like her. It's a pleasure for me to not instantly compare this to her last album. All that needs to be said is that if you enjoyed the first, you will probably enjoy her second, 'folklore'. The opening track 'One-trick pony' gets things off to a familiar start, with Nelly again focusing her lyrical insight on contemporary musicians and the pretentious, shallow artists who, as she asserts, "do it for a price". You can usually divide much of Nellys music into two categories, cool or emotional, the first track is cool, but if like me you really enjoy her more vulnerable and personal music, you'll be sure to dig most of the next 45 minutes.

We've probably all heard the lead-single 'Powerless (say what you want)' and far from what the title suggests, this is a very powerful song, like Joni Mitchell, she really seems to know how to sing something in a different way, hitting notes and making melodies that you may not have heard before. Even if you have, her unique voice and exuberant mannerisms will always keep you aware that this is so much more than bland pop music, she has the gift of being an individual, and just two albums into her career, I can already say with confidence that there is such a thing as a 'Nelly Furtado sound'. This is it.

'Explode' and 'Fresh off the boat' don't work for me, both being guilty of having slightly more energy than actual meaning (or conviction perhaps), but they become all the more forgivable within the context of an album full of prettiness. 'Try' comes alive on the chorus, a laid-back piece of emotion that builds itself up to a warm, passionate climax without ever getting too caught up in itself. Speaking of climaxes, the song that every creative person will love is 'Forca', Nelly recites a few lines of simple poetry in a song that seems dedicated to the beautiful moments of life, it's never corny, it's just full of life. Nelly Furtado's full of life.

Folklore is an ideal name for the album, as from the very beginning there is more prominent feature of folk instruments like the banjo and guitar, as well as being undeniably 'Nelly' in it's sound, it also manages to be quite traditional in the overall mood. 'Saturdays' takes it even further, with Nelly singing over an acoustic guitar, and even breaking out into laughter halfway through the song (perhaps she was inspired to leave this in from Cody ChestnuTT, who did similar things with his debut album, and whom she has expressed an admiration for). Similarly the warm 'Picture perfect' is about as folk/country as you could get, and when I say folk/country, I mean the very best of those wide genres. Her poetry, as always is potent and real, "Get a job lifting cement, Oh, it's so dry when it rains it gets wet" it may not seem like such a great line but within the context of the song, combined with the way she sings it, and the way she is reacting with the music at the same time just blows me away. Nelly is nice.

A grand finale is always nice too, the trick seems to be avoiding corniness, and whilst Nelly sometimes treads on thin ice in this regard, but the innocense and honesty of her songs has got to overpower the weaknesses in her music. Nelly definitely scores with the penultimate track 'Island of wonder', a neo-latin piece of hip-hop escapism. She sings with a subtlety and calm I didn't know she had, her voice is sedate, drugged, almost normal (but of course, never normal!) Caetano Veloso also does an amazing job as a guest, adding beauty and an earthy, organic quality whilst not overshadowing the overall mood of the intense song. The DJ Shadow-like scratches complete these minutes of cool. 'Childhood dreams' is beautiful, so beautiful. Perhaps there are too many songs of similar stature and style for me to call it a classic, but that should take nothing away from it. She begins singing more like Bjork, and then descends deeper and deeper into almost a freestyle of melodies and evocative lyrics. "You are the little boy made for me in the stars, that's why I can't let you go...you are the realest thing I know, hands down, the realest thing I know". It goes on, oh yes it goes on for quite a while. Climax may be the wrong word, but it does build and build, with organs and grand choir-like Nelly singing poetry at it's most innocent and, yes, child-like. The music is nice, but perhaps feels a little rushed at times, with each new element maybe coming in 4 bars too early which sadly leaves the song with a slightly forced/cheap feel to it, but that's only me being hyper-critical, and I would only be so with an artist as gifted as She.

The amazing thing for me is that Nelly is aware that she has a long way to go as an artist, and with an album as pretty as this, it takes a certain type of person not to be too proud too quickly. I think Nelly knows she can make infinitely greater more heavenly music- as great as this is. Yes, Folklore is brilliant and if I had my way, everyone would be open minded enough to have it in their record collection. The only ones that don't seem to accept her seem to have a problem because she is in the limelight so much. Well, some artists- like Nelly Furtado, can be described as making 'pop' music', but that's because they strike a resonant chord with all the people who listen, with her beautiful sounds and personality. Pop music may be dominated by pimps and ho's, but Nelly is a beautiful human being, let's hope her words can make the world pay attention and start immitating beauty instead of all the ugliness we see and hear everyday.