Kristina Train – Spilt Milk

Album Reviews • Friday September 11th, 2009 • 8:09 am

A small controversy arose in 2002 around the time Blue Note released the debut record of jazzy pop singer, Norah Jones. Apparently, some jazz elitists felt that Blue Note Records, one of the most important jazz labels of the 20th century, was selling out by releasing a pop album. Blue Note CEO Bruce Lundvall defended his decision by stating that Blue Note was committed to attaining quality jazz artists, which he believed Ms. Jones to be. Norah Jones remained a Blue Note artist and the rest, as they say, is music history.

After the exceptional success of Jones, it comes as no great surprise that Blue Note has sought other female artists with similarly beautiful, bluesy voices. The label’s latest such artist is Savannah, Georgia native, Kristina Train. Train, who seems to have appeared on the music scene out of thin air, bears a couple similarities to Jones in that she is a beautiful woman with a sultry, intoxicating voice. There are, however, some significant differences between them. While Jones is rooted in the tradition of jazz singers, Kristina Train clearly bears more than a little influence from Southern R&B and gospel music (imagine a voice between Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt and you’re close to Kristina Train). There’s also a bit of restrained swagger present in Train’s songs imbuing them with a pleasing Southern charm. If Norah Jones’ Come Away with Me feels like a New York City record, then Spilt Milk is somewhere on the road between Nashville and Memphis.

Train’s voice has a wonderful tone and range heard noticeably as she moves from her low, smoky croon to her soulful belt with frequency and ease. The songs more or less revolve around her vocal abilities, as Spilt Milk is basically a vehicle for it. That’s not to detract from the musicians on the album; there are, in fact, a great many pianos, strings, horns, and guitars here forming the seas on which Train’s voice sails freely. The musicians do a fine job, playing very well while never drawing attention away from Train’s bluesy drawl.

The lyrics on Spilt Milk are fine and appropriate for Train’s purposes. It’s understood that on bluesy soul records like Spilt Milk, lyrics, though important, take a backseat to the emotions communicated in the voice. When Train sings about falling in love, unrequited love, or a burning anger against a former love interest, the focus is less on what she sings and more on how she sings. When she sings about a broken heart in the title track it’s important that Train convey the emotions of the song through her words and voice. And this is something at which Kristina Train excels.

Not only is she able to capture and transmit a complex blend of emotions with her voice, she also manages to craft a memorable identity on Spilt Milk that is carefree and approachable. Whether she’s singing about “surfing channels” in “No Man’s Land” or calling an old flame after one drink too many in “It’s Over Now,” she sounds like something of an everywoman (for me, occasionally reminiscent of John Mayer’s everyman), which makes for a persona both believable and endearing.

The only real drawback with the album is that many of the songs follow the same formula: softly sung verses followed by huge choruses. These choruses either rise on a bed of strings or are blasted away with horns aplenty. However, that’s more of a complaint against the genre than Train’s songs. Despite recognizing this repetitive formula, I still couldn’t help myself from getting swept up in these gigantic choruses and that’s a powerful testament to the talent of Train and these musicians.

Tagged as: Blues, Georgia, soul, Southern R&B

By Gavin Breeden