Anjani

I’d never heard of Anjani until a month or so ago when I picked up her new album simply because A) her picture on the cover was most beguiling, and B) I noticed that it was produced by Leonard Cohen, a singer/songwriter/poet I’ve been listening to and liking for a long time. Those are not usually good reasons to buy a CD, but it worked out in this case. Anjani has been a backup singer on several Leonard Cohen albums, and she has a voice like acacia honey—warm, golden, silky and rich. The songs on Blue Alert are the kinds of things that might have been heard in an after-hours jazz club in Greenwich Village a long time ago: songs of honest feeling and sometimes naked emotion, a bit world weary, perhaps, but embodying experiences most of us recognize. The lyrics are for grownups—rich in allusions and metaphors that require a moment’s thought before clicking into perspective and then seeming just right. It’s a quiet album of songs, perfect for a night when you’ve got a long drive ahead of you and want a reverie and a little intelligent companionship on the way.