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This London-schooled, New York-based duo – classically trained vocalist/pianist Eleanor Kleiner and French guitarist/bassist Elie Brangbour – hadn’t released anything since their luminous 2010 debut Go Call the Captain, so this new EP came eagerly anticipated. (Since Captain they’ve been traveling extensively, even landing a seven-month gig as singing gondoliers for a Venice-themed hotel in Macau, China!) On it, they’re buttressed by upright bassist Clif Jackson, drummer Chris Shultz, and guitarist Clifton Hyde. As a result, The Escape has a deeper, more dynamic full band sound, while still retaining all of Captain’s spacious, sweeping, and snowpeak-scaling folk-rock beauty. And once again, Kleiner’s ethereal, yet forceful siren voice freezes you in your tracks. On heftier songs like the insistent, galloping “Remember Waiting” and the bouncy, foot-stomping “No Love,” her airy, agile singing soars, soothes, and sizzles, feeding off the group’s extra kick.
Throughout, her vivid, introspective lyrics evoke nostalgic imagery and long-suppressed memories. On the stark, dreamlike “Where Have You Gone,” she likens a lost friend to an escaped convict on the lam, while on the ghostly, elevating piano ballad “Pink House,” she yearns to recapture an elusive, carefree childhood. In keeping with the EP’s title, the desire to break away from her troubles and gain more freedom becomes a constantly recurring theme. It’s especially evident on the choice of a cover: a skipping, swooping, jazz-flecked rendition of Harold Arlen/E.Y. Harburg’s renowned 1939 Wizard of Oz classic “Over the Rainbow.” It gives Judy Garland’s maudlin movie version a breathless, restless modern update. On the country-ish “Better Off,” she wrestles with breaking off a faded romance, while on the brief, separately-tracked intro to “No Love,” she’s more explicit, stating: “I wanna run from this world.” But despite the moody, melancholy words, The Escape is another lovely treasure!
