Salt On Sea Glass
Petra Haden is known for mad-brilliant covers (Journey‘s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” the entire The Who Sell Out LP) in which she replicates each instrumental part using only her voice. On this long-brewing project with ex-Cibo Matto sound scientist Yuka Honda, she uses her soprano more conventionally but still makes magic, mixing feathery, Minnie Riperton-style soul singing with wind chimes, Fender Rhodes, and other trip-hoppy atmospherics (including guitar colors by Wilco‘s Nels Cline.) On “Eliza,” a duet with David Byrne, she sings elliptically about a girl who is “big and strong.” But elsewhere, her swirling, untranslatable phonemes suggest a goddess who rules the cosmos.
Listen to “Eliza”: