Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Youn Sun Nah: Same Girl

Youn Sun Nah: Same Girl

By Ian Patterson
November 13, 2010
View read count

Korean singer Youn Sun Nah has come a long way in a short time, since casting off from her French quintet of a decade and turning down a five-album deal from Label Bleu, in order to pursue absolute artistic freedom. Her ACT debut, Voyage (ACT Music, 2009), was a stylish introduction to a strikingly original voice, one which blurred the lines between jazz, folk and pop. On Same Girl, the core musicians from Voyage remain, as does the music's eclectic range. So, yes, on the surface: same girl. However, on Same Girl, there is a shift to a greater role as an interpretive singer, with two originals compared to Voyage's five, and Nah exploring slightly darker, emotionally edgier terrain than before.

On "My Favorite Things," Nah effectively delves into the jazz canon, so closely is the song associated with saxophonist

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane. Nah deconstructs Roger and Hammerstein' pretty show tune, gently plucking a kalimba and turning the tune into something dreamy and haunting that would work well in a horror movie with a possessed child in a big house with glass-eyed dolls. Nah adopts a similarly stripped-down approach to

Randy Newman

piano
b.1943

" data-original-title="" title="">Randy Newman's bittersweet and ambiguous take on heroin addiction and love, "Same Girl." Nah's fragile, broken-soul delivery here, and on

Sergio Mendes

piano
1941 - 2024

" data-original-title="" title="">Sergio Mendes' beautifully melancholic "Song of No Regrets," are reminiscent of

Tom Waits

piano and vocals
b.1949

" data-original-title="" title="">Tom Waits' balladry---sad, yet seductive.

By contrast, there is energy and fire aplenty in Jackson C. Frank 's "My Name is Carnival," from a little-known and rather tragic American folk singer who recorded one album in the mid 1960s , which impacted the likes of Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, Simon and Garfunkle, and Fairport Convention, before fading, and dying years later in obscurity. Guitarist

Ulf Wakenius

guitar
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Ulf Wakenius' "Baghdad Breakfast" features percussionist Xavier Desandre-Navarre's urgent Arabic rhythms,

Lars Danielsson

bass
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Lars Danielsson's menacing bowed cello, and Nah's Brazilian-inspired scatting, which flies hand-in-hand with Wakenius; an atmospheric number which conjures images of speeding through the eternally, trouble-plagued city.

On British drummer Terry Cox's "Moondog," the quartet exhibits the effortless, country-blues shuffle of a

Bill Frisell

guitar, electric
b.1951

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Frisell group, with Nah taking a lovely, kazoo-inflected vocal solo. The two Nah originals—the brooding "Uncertain Weather" and the quirky, rapid-fire "Pancake"—couldn't be more different, and respectively reveal a singer drawn to melancholy, and one who is playful and experimental. These two traits are also seen in the lovely Korean folk song, "Kangwondo Arirang"—a nostalgic blues in Nah's hands—and "Enter Sandman," a powerful, acoustic take on the Metallica number, where Nah gives full rein to her adventurous vocal improvisations.

Nah's refusal to limit herself to the well-known vocal repertory already marks her out from the pack. On the occasion when she does fish from The Great American Songbook, the results are utterly refreshing. Add to that a distinctive, undeniably beautiful voice with great technical control, and it seems that Youn Sun Nah's ongoing musical voyage knows no limits.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

My Favorite Things; My Name is Carnival; Breakfast in Baghdad; Uncertain Weather; Song of No Regrets; Kangwondo Arirang; Enter Sandman; Same Girl; Moondog; Pancake; La Chanson d'H��l��ne.

Personnel

Youn Sun Nah

vocals

Youn Sun Nah: vocals, kalimba, music box, kazoo; Ulf Wakenius: guitars; Lars Danielsson: acoustic bass, cello; Xavier Desandre-Navarre: percussion: Roland Brival: narration (11).

Album information

Title: Same Girl | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: ACT Music

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Searching For Adam
< Previous

This Could Be the Start of Something...
Next >

Youn Sun Nah Concerts

Mar 26 Thu

YOUN SUN NAH

Malraux Scene Nationale
Chambery, France

Mar 27 Fri

YOUN SUN NAH

Bouffes Du Nord Theater
Paris, France

Mar 28 Sat

YOUN SUN NAH

Bouffes Du Nord Theater
Paris, France

Mar 29 Sun

YOUN SUN NAH

Bouffes Du Nord Theater
Paris, France

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.