"My Heart" (see the video on YouTube here) is apparently the label's choice for airplay, and a logical choice for that. It's the catchiest and most accessible of the record, but there's no loss of integrity, either. The mildly flamenco flavored rhythm is gently adorned with acoustic guitar, some organic keyboards and tight drumming.
It's hard to fault the other originals, either. There are some songs about broken relationships: the tender "Another Angel" and the more bitter "Leave Me Standing Alone." "When I Fall" is a gentle soul tune with the guitar lines evoking early Curtis Mayfield. The dreamy "Speak Your Heart" finds Wright singing quite effectively in a higher register. 
"This Is" is a particularly intriguing track. It's an uncommon marriage of a bossa nova rhythm to a darker melody, but Wright and Street make it work beautifully.
The four covers are done in typically shrewd fashion by Wright. Ike Turner's "I Idolize You" has a lazy, swampy feel. "Hey Mann" from Sweet Honey In The Rock is given a majestic Nashville treatment. The CD closes with a rendition of Patsy Cline's hit "Crazy," that's made evocative by Wright's breathy delivery and a shimmering, reverberating guitar.
The most inspired cover comes from a somewhat unlikely source: Led Zeppelin. Wright made Page and Plant's "Thank You" her own with a sincere, delicate vocal performance and a chorus that just swells.
Lizz Wright's third outing doesn't represent a quantum leap from her prior album, but such a jump wasn't needed to begin with. She's already a fully formed talent who just needed to show more growth in the songwriting department. On The Orchard, the growth is clearly there. When listening to any Lizz Wright record, but especially The Orchard, it helps to listen without any preconceptions of what genre the music contained within falls under.
It's organic goodness defies category of most kinds, although the category "splendid" fits it just fine.
Article comments
1 - Jordan Richardson
I'm looking forward to checking this one. Nice review!