In a day and age where “musical reinvention” means a new marketing approach, once-revered singer/songwriters like Liz Phair and Jewel are applauded for catering to teenage boys and old perverts. When k.d. lang hits the Kleinhans stage with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra on Friday, the audience can sit back and enjoy an artist that doesn’t release ad campaigns disguised as albums, and lets her adventurous spirit take her wherever it pleases. Over the course of her prolific career, lang has been a country music star, Grammy-winning pop icon, jazz singer and everything in between, and none of her incarnations have nudged the spotlight from where it rightly belongs – directly on her stunning, captivating voice.
“Today’s music isn’t so much focused on the vocalist,” lang comments in a telephone interview. “It’s centered on the front person, but not the vocalist. Country music, jazz crooning and traditional pop music have been what I’ve focused on, because it really is about the song and the singer.”
It’s tough to find a singer as versatile as lang, whose voice manages to weave itself into the foundation of any song, whether it’s a tearful country waltz, contemporary pop gem or classic jazz standard. She’s harmonized with Roy Orbison, traded couplets with Tony Bennett and released a wildly diverse catalog of albums, giving no thought to the intended demographic or projected market value. It has been 20 years since her first record and 12 since her last hit single, and lang continues to possess something far more valuable than Jewel’s endorsements and Phair’s new wardrobe: incredible artistic integrity.
“I know that I’m hard to market,” she admits. “I know it’s challenging for the listener, because the people that I love are like that too, and I don’t love every record they ever made. More importantly, I love them in the long run, for their richness, guts, bravery and ability to move past the fear that comes with making and selling art.”
Given lang’s tendency to expand her musical horizons, it’s not surprising that Friday’s show will feature a brand new wrinkle. This is the very first orchestral tour of the vocalist’s career; it acts as a prelude to her upcoming album Hymns Of The 49th Parallel, a venture into the Canadian songbook that features a healthy amount of string arrangements. The innate appeal of singing with an orchestra isn’t lost on lang.
“It’s kind of a singer’s dream to sing with less drums, less electric guitars and more harmonic support,” lang explains. “Having that kind of beauty behind you gives you a lot of options. It’s like a great wave for a surfer; there’s less opportunity to improvise, because it’s all in the finesse, the details and the intent.”
Hymns is slated for a July 2004 release, and it finds the Alberta native compiling the first-ever ode to the great songwriters of Canada, including covers of songs penned by Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. The theme of the record will be reflected in her Buffalo performance; her rendition of Leonard Cohen’s transcendent masterpiece “Hallelujah” promises to be a high point.
Whether we like it or not, the lion’s share of current popular music has the dignity and sensitivity of an Extreme Makeover. It’s miserable to watch musicians disembowel their art in exchange for a few extra weeks on the charts, and there’s nothing more refreshing than an artist that can’t be forced and persuaded into a certain image, that can’t be branded like a corporation or hocked like a side of meat.
“I just fall in love with something and get inspired by it,” lang points out when asked about what drives her to cover such wide musical ground. “It doesn’t always work, but it adds to the momentum of who I am. It’s been both my nemesis and the essence of who I am, and it’s what keeps me interested in the music business, because I allow myself to follow my instincts. To ‘reinvent’ seems almost fraudulent, it conjures up all types of negative music business bullshit, like changing the color of my hair.”
There has always been one thing that has determined k.d. lang’s next step. “I’m at the mercy of my own inspiration,” she comments with a laugh. The gifted, chameleonic artist is sure to leave Buffalonians with an inspiring memory that can never be reinvented – the pristine sound of her voice.
Appeared in the May 13, 2004, issue of Artvoice.