Watershed - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk
Watershed is the first major project from celebrated Canadian chanteuse k.d. lang since 2004's Hymns of the 49th Parallel. Where Hymns explored the music of fellow Canadians such as Ron Sexsmith, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, Watershed represents the first set of original songs from lang in around eight years. Self-produced and arranged by musicians she has worked with a lot in the past, the most striking aspect of the album is its intimate, homely feel. Adding to the cozy ambience is the fact that Watershed brings most of lang's musical passions and influences--jazz, country, folk, bossa nova--under one roof, lending the project a dreamy, mellifluous coherence. But if the musical landscape is mellow and easy to traverse, Lang's lyrics can be less comfortable. Using her laid-back, often ethereal arrangements as sugar-candied coating for thornier topics, the singer serenades with stories of broken love, occasionally harsh self-analysis and the obligatory forays into existential angst. These contrastive elements only serve to make the album stronger, adding emotional weight to the airless arrangements of "Once in a While," and the delicate "Close Your Eyes," and conjuring up images of beauty on the string-laden "I Dream of Spring," and the wonderfully lazy "Sunday". Intelligent, mature and sophisticated, Watershed is the kind of perfect pop album it's difficult not to fall in love with immediately and forever. --Paul Sullivan

Amazon.com
Watershed, K.D. Lang's second Nonesuch album, indeed represents a significant juncture in her 25-year career as a recording artist-a collection of eleven new original songs produced, for the first time, by Lang herself. As with any challenge she's met in her unparalleled career, lang is a natural behind the boards in the studio. Watershed has an intimate feel and a sophisticated sound that highlights the warmth in Lang's voice, the maturity of her songwriting and the simple beauty of her arrangements. The Grammy Award-winning artist draws on her wealth of experience with an impressively wide range of genres to fashion a revealing portrait of the artist as she is right now. As Lang explains, "Watershed is like a culmination of everything I've done — there's a little bit of jazz, a little country, a little of the Ingenue sound, a little Brazilian touch. It really feels like the way I hear music, this mash-up of genres, and I think it reflects all the styles that have preceded this in my catalogue."

K.D. Lang Photos

More from K.D. Lang

Watershed Deluxe Limited Edition

Hymns of the 49th Parallel

Ingenue

Shadowland

Live by Request (2001)

Absolute Torch and Twang

Drag

All You Can Eat

Reintarnation [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Live by Request [LIVE]

Invincible Summer

A Truly Western Experience [EXTRA TRACKS]

Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Exquisite stuff. February 5, 2008
86 out of 88 found this review helpful

Four time Grammy winner k.d. lang's new album "Watershed" is the first album of newly written material since 2000's "Invincible Summer".
For a while, Lang wasn't writing songs anywhere.
In the intervening years, she has recorded cover versions and duets, but nothing has emerged from her own pen.
Fans who were constantly craving another album like "Ingenue" wondered if she had lost the knack.
Writer's block was the problem, apparently. And the catalyst behind the unleashing of Watershed's sequence of love songs was that the Canadian singer/songwriter has found happiness with her new love.
"I wondered that myself," she says. "I think that when I start out on any new record".
But now "Watershed" is finished, ready, good and immaculately delivered.
So why the lengthy wait? "I got writer's block. There were a number of contributory factors. One was 9/11, which turned the atmosphere in America - politically, emotionally and artistically - on its ear. Afterwards I couldn't write love songs. They just seemed so frivolous".
It features eleven new songs written and recorded in 2007 for Nonesuch label, and is also the first self-produced collection of her 25-year career.
It doesn't disappoint. But, please, don't rush ! Don't expect to be hooked at the first listening.
Should you wish to spend some time letting these songs get under your skin, then they will slowly reveal their charms - and occasionally, as on the breathily magnificent "Shadow and the Frame", match lang's former glories. Lyrically, she's not a very interesting songwriter, but then words aren't really her thing.
kd lang's voice is a remarkable instrument, and it's for its instrumental qualities that she writes her long, languorous melodies framed in elaborately simple arrangements, leading to the creation of an intensely moody mood.
It's pretty exquisite stuff - the string charts are just lovely - and stands as a (self-produced) summary of the genres she's dabbled in. Samba, country and jazz are referenced with a sophisticated passing wink, but no more.This beautiful CD sees her re-embracing the gorgeous balladry of "Ingenue", infusing everything with a gentle country twang in the process.
"I Dream of Spring", "Once in a While" and "Sunday" are magisterial, showcasing that knife-through-butter voice.
"Flame of the Uninspired", is full of unsentimental regret, and the growly "Jealous Dog" recalls a female Johnny Cash.
Sounding more than ever like a velvet-voiced Patsy Cline, Lang is on near-perfect form on this astonishing album:lang always appears perfectly matched to her material, so convincing is her interpretation of everything she touches.
There is huge pleasure to be had from the rich, sensual power of her voice.
Twentyfive years on, k.d. lang, now 46, can still evoke the sting of adolescent infatuation.

Rated: 4.5 stars

5 out of 5 stars

I wouldn't have thought she'd ever outdo Drag, but... February 7, 2008
15 out of 19 found this review helpful

From the fabulous first notes of the album to the finish there isn't a mis-step. This is her strongest outing to date and that's an amazing thing to say. This is one of the great albums ever. I haven't heard anything this great since discovering Jake Shimabukuru's Gently Weeps or hearing Tish Hinjosa sing Estrellita.
It doesn't get any better than this...just different.

5 out of 5 stars

Watershed is a very enjoyable listening experience February 5, 2008
10 out of 14 found this review helpful

KD Lang sounds so good on her tenth studio album Watershed. This is her first self produced album. This disc is a turning point in her career, and that is the reason for the title Watershed. I love the musical and vocal arrangements of these tracks very much. My favorite track is "I Dream Of Spring". Her sensual vocals are beautiful on this love song. I love Greg Leisz who is featured on the steel guitar featured on this track. The other stand out track is "Sunday". This is a tribute to her favorite day of the week. The bass playing by David Piltch on this track is so smooth. "Je Fais La Planche" is a song about how brief life is. The acoustic guitar gives this track a very soothing quality. The banjo playing on "Jealous Dog" gives this track a simple easy going sound. Shadow And The Frame is a pretty song. The piano playing is beautiful on this track. "Once in A While" is a pretty romantic song. "Upstream" is a hopeful song that makes me feel good. "Flame Of The Uninspired" is another sensual sounding track with great background vocals. She sounds so peaceful and effortless singing the track "Coming Home". Watershed is very enjoyable listening experience because of the vocal and musical arrangements.

5 out of 5 stars

Remarkable from the Remarkable. February 7, 2008
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

I am absolutely amazed at the woman's talent every time I am privileged to hear it. I have no always been a fan, but I have enjoyed everything in the last 15 years, If you liked Invincible Summer, you will like this cd even better. Lang has outdone herself. The smooth vocals and the exquisite lyrics are so powerful. I truly feel something when I hear her sing. You will not be disappointed.

5 out of 5 stars

kd lang SIMPLY AMAZING February 8, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

Finally, a new kd lang album, and one she wrote and produced herself. "Watershed" is like back to the good old days when she was releasing her good music. This reminds me of "All You Can Eat" and "Absolute Torch and Twang", her finest. And it's great to see her writing again with Ben Mink after all these years. It's a beautiful album from an incredible voice. Every time I listen to this CD I like it more and more, it will grow on you. And that's a sign of great music, it's not instant, but takes its time to draw you in and then you're hooked. I love kd lang and this is as good as it gets. It's hard to decide what I'd like to hear next from her, an album of great covers or old standards or more of this same kind. Either way it doesn't matter, as long as we don't have to wait this long again.

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