I still remember the day I became aware of Nelly Furtado. Halloween day of 2000 I’m in the car and this young lady is being interviewed on Alice 97.3 about her new album. The actual interview was very brief because at that time, nobody knew this girl. She quickly went into an acoustic version (guitar version, not the crappy piano one) of I’m Like A Bird. After the song, the DJ announced that this album was already in stores and quickly told Nelly not to let the door hit her in the ass on the way out. I made a course change to pick that up and I’ve been a fan ever since.

It wasn’t until later that I realized the hopes and pressure that rested on Ms. Furtado. If I remember correctly, she was the first artist to appear on the Dreamworks music label. And after some serious flops released under the Dreamworks name (outside of music), Nelly Furtado definitely got things back on track with her debut Whoa Nelly! Nearly three years and one baby later, Nelly delivers Folklore an album that still retains Furtado’s unique flavor while ditching some of the excess found on her debut. Like Avril teaming up with The Matrix so Nelly dispenses with the risks (and possible rewards) of going solo and instills the services of Track & Field once again. There is something inherently level and smooth feeling about Folklore in comparison to Whoa Nelly! Nelly’s debut was a bit boy racer, like a Camry with a fat spoiler and racing stripes. Nelly’s debut was rich with her influences, from pop, rock and rap, to all things Portuguese.

But it wasn’t as distracting as it might appear on paper because the final album was an honest product, the result of her true influences. On Folklore Nelly scraps most of that stuff and runs a little more lean and mean. I find it a bit odd that Folklore kicks off with a rather weak track in this case, One-Trick Pony. Here, Nelly brushes off any notion that’s she’s just that. Two problems here, Nelly is more like a 27 trick pony (if she were a pony) and two, this leans toward track number 12 filler here, not an album starter. But okay, Nelly needs to say something before the movie starts, fair enough.


Folklore

Powerless (say what you want) now this is what I’m talking about. A track that hits the ground running with urgent percussion and brisk banjo work; Nelly takes shots at the media for trying to change her image during the massive success of her first album. With lines like “Paint my face in your magazine, make it look whiter than it seems” and “paint me over with your dreams, shove away my ethnicity” this is where Nelly’s Folklore really starts. Maintaining the blood flow between what I consider the pillars of Folklore are the fast moving Explode a club-ish throbbing track, and a very somber Try. The aforementioned track is the first one to delve into ballad territory. Good stuff here, heartfelt and sharp around the edges, but Nelly delivers even better material later on. Força Furtado's soccer anthem is a track I'm not sure I've come to grips with. A total track skipper early on, at best I find it tolerable in the present. A slightly catchy chorus "With a force, a force, a hunger no one can kill" (loose translation) keeps it afloat, but honestly, força is a bit distracting from the overall feel of Folklore.

Nelly keeps the lights turned down with The Grass Is Green, a more sweeping, complex and spacious sad song (if there is such a thing). With guitars, violin, viola, and organ all delicately intertwined around Nelly’s girlish vocals The Grass Is Green keeps Nelly from shoe-gazing because it is just too big to allow such a thing. From here on out, Folklore changes into another gear, and possibly three of the strongest tracks live near the backside of this record.

Picture Perfect a dreamy tune, shimmering with subliminal vocals and just the thinnest shard of Castles Made of Sand by Jimi Hendrix, could possibly be the most endearing track of the bunch. On the Surface Picture Perfect seems to overflow with sadness, perhaps a 'rock star' love long gone. But when seen as a whole from a distance, it's more a story of Nelly's making-it-big day dreams. This track turns out to be a beautiful homage to her idea of what America and stardom meant to her and what she had to offer the world as an artist. Picture Perfect leaves the gate somber and ends with Furtado in a frenzied outpour of emotion leaving me with a nice peanut butter and jelly satisfaction. Saturdays keeps the honesty coming, only stripped down. A wonderfully simplistic, Jewel-esque recounting of an average day for a younger Furtado. Jarvis Church joins Furtado and supplies wonderful vocals on what appears to be a one-take, multiple microphone recording complete with Furtado's wonderful giggles and slight misstep or two.

Sporting prominent finger cymbals and congas Island of Wonder is rich in cool Brazilian and Portuguese vibrations. Adding to the richness is Brazilian singer/songwriter Caetano Veloso. Veloso has such an interesting voice that it certainly deserves some extra ink. Veloso, with a slightly androgynous voice reminiscent of a Brazilian "Jude" delivers abstract lyrics that beautifully contrast Furtado's more girlish sound. With just a bit of grain in his voice, it is easy to hear that either Veloso has a few miles on the odometer, or his vocal cords are wise beyond their years.


The closer for Folklore Childhood Dreams is a bit of a love/hate track for me. On the front side, Furtado sings in a bit of Falsetto rather than where her voice naturally seems to rest, and those vocals sit on a forced if not funky word structure. But in the second half, Furtado's delivery totally smooths out, and the music turns toward beautiful with an organ, chimes, harp and tabla. Near the middle of Childhood dreams a slightly grainy drum machine and organ kick in like a purposeful march into the sunset, a feeling like the next sunrise will be Nelly's third collection of poems, thoughts and ideas. The opening should have been re-worked to match the amazing second half of this tune.


Like any good record, Folklore has three or four tracks that grab ahold early on. However subsequent plays turn former track-skippers into sticky on the brain material. Thoughtful listeners will appreciate the emotion, lyrical maturity and the vast change in direction for Nelly. Fans more intent on finding the bottom heavy, rap-pop fusion hits of Nelly’s debut will either dismiss or be completely oblivious to her latest effort.



© Tony Flores 2004






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