Welsh singer Donna Lewis had a global hit 20years ago with I Love You, Always, Forever (you don't think you know it, but you do), and this gothic set, including sparsely dramatic covers of tunes by Burt Bacharach, Antônio Carlos Jobim and Damien Rice, is just the sort of dark, Waitsean record you make if you're tired of singing the same happy song over and over again.
So far so ho hum. But Lewis shows impeccable taste and not a little daring by engaging pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King, otherwise known as influential piano trio The Bad Plus, as her backing band. The Bad boys restrict themselves, for the most part, to providing stark accompaniments to Lewis’s breathless vocals, but the effect is, at times, electrifying.
