Dirty Little Secret is a slick album by an obviously experienced musician, former Squirrel Nut Zipper Katharine Whalen.The opening song, "The Funnest Game," is a great and textured track showing off Whalen's unique voice and ability to mix different musical influences. It reminds one distinctly of a James Bond theme song and I don't mean that in a bad way. It's a well-produced, medium length track that sounds seductive, yet has hints of darkness hidden within it.Following "The Funnest Game" comes "Dirty Little Secret." It's an upbeat song that could fall into the endless abyss of good-but-not-great jazz songs but deftly side steps this with the clever use of offbeat instruments, such a bell. Touches like these differentiate Whalen's music.Up next is "You-Who," a song that switches between a darker and smoke filled jazz lounge feel to a light hearted and bubbly chorus, which you might expect to see used in a GAP ad. While most songs might fall apart when tasked with making such a switch, Whalen makes "You-Who" one of the catchiest songs on the album.After these opening three tracks (arguably the strongest part of the album), comes a string of unremarkable but thoroughly listenable songs. Katharine Whalen doesn't have the charm and ultra presence of a jazz singer like Madeleine Peyroux, but then again Whalen's jazz is different. It's meant to be danceable, energetic, and fresh. She can switch between sultry ("Dirty Little Secret," "Angel") and playful ("You-Who," "Meet Me By The Fire," "Three Blind Mice") with ease, which gives a nice dynamic to her songs.Toward the end, Dirty Little Secret picks up with "In The Night" and "Three Blind Mice" — a fast paced song that's catchy and fun, if lacking in substance. The album ends with "Blur," one of the slower paced songs on the CD and works fine as a somber album closer.While Katharine Whalen doesn't really bring anything truly innovative to the jazz spectrum and her lyrics may not be the most inspiring or well written ("Meet Me By The Fire" is evidence of this), Dirty Little Secret sounds good throughout. And perhaps it is great at a few points. The song lengths are kept short, avoiding the horrible flaw of overly long (and therefore boring) tracks that can immediately turn a listener off.
With a bit of refining, Katharine Whalen has the potential to create immensely enjoyable albums. For fans of Whalen and modern jazz, Dirty Little Secret should be an enjoyable album. For those new to the genre or artist, this will serve as a fairly competent introduction.
Article comments
1 - beadtot
What is the "dirty little secret"? Ask the National Institutes of Health.
2 - Connie Phillips
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