Safe & Sound by Maya Isacowitz
Then: Trendy clothing boutiques play upbeat music. It might be bubblegum pop or it might be electronica, but it has to fast and happy. Yet somehow, a store that catered to Asian women, located in a Chinese enclave, where Mandarin is the default, was not playing C-pop. It was playing a languid folk song sung in English—Maya Isacowitz's track “Safe & Sound.” When I found out later she was Israeli and never had a hit in the US, I was even more confused. How did the store owner find that music and what type of shopper was she trying to attract?
I never got the answers to those questions, but I did get a nice addition to my music collection.
Now: Ah, my schedule has finally calmed down a bit, and I'm able to leisurely enjoy some good food—bread, cheese, a glass of Malbec, and lemon cake topped with chocolate icing. It's not from elBulli or Alinea, with scores of ingredients, hours of preparation, and complicated plating, but the relative simplicity is quite pleasing.
Maya Isacowitz seems to be a fairly good pairing to my meal—similarly few elements, and similarly enjoyed at an unhurried pace. Isacowitz's music may be spare, eschewing a full band in favor of the acoustic guitar, piano, and a few other instruments here and there, but that means each component is allowed to shine. There's the reverberation of every plucked string in “Sweet Delusion.” There's the silkily smooth transition between chest voice and head voice in “Roses.” The melancholic harmonica and dragging vocal rhythm in the unexpected blues track “Free Yourself.”
Take it slowly, and let the music linger in your ears.
