Madeleine Peyroux’s near-‘Perfect’ style

Madeleine Peyroux

Half the Perfect World

Rounder

Madeleine Peyroux’s voice sounds as if it has come to us from another age.

That’s what comes to mind upon hearing her latest album, “Half the Perfect World.” The notion is reinforced by a picture of Miss Peyroux with a cigarette in hand. (Does anybody still smoke anymore?)

Never mind that the first song on the LP is a new one, a Peyroux original. The singer-guitarist and sometime songwriter takes her cue from great artists of the past, interpreting the tunes of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday. Her singing style, in fact, often is compared to that of Lady Day.

However, most of the songs on “Perfect World,” her third LP, were penned by still-living tunesmiths — and Miss Peyroux brings to them a sturdy beauty that’s all too rare among her contemporaries.

“I’m All Right,” the first of the album’s 12 cuts, was co-written with producer Larry Klein and Steely Dan’s Walter Becker and easily is one of the album’s best tracks. Its old-fashioned lyrics are made slightly more modern with a twisted sense that could fit right in on a Steely Dan disc: “He got drunk. He fell down. He threw a few of my things around.”

The second song, Johnny Mercer’s “The Summer Wind,” is an easygoing piece that serves as an interesting contrast to what came before. These first two songs may inhabit the same plane, but they were written decades apart.

Elsewhere, Miss Peyroux has made a dangerous gambit in covering two songs released earlier this year by Leonard Cohen’s paramour and creative partner, Anjani Thomas. One works; one doesn’t.

Miss Peyroux jazzes up “Blue Alert,” the title track on Miss Thomas’ excellent album, turning it into a completely different song. Though Miss Thomas’ take is injected throughout with sexuality, Miss Peyroux’s elegant voice is more detached and isn’t quite as good an accompaniment to the charged lyrics. She’s much better on “Half the Perfect World,” the Cohen-Thomas song that gives her album its title; her intimate voice is suited perfectly to the song.

Miss Peyroux, a Georgia native who lived in Paris for nine years, also gives a warm reading to the Serge Gainsbourg standard “La Javanaise.” Her French is flawless, and her interpretation is one of the album’s highlights.

On her own composition, “A Little Bit,” Miss Peyroux showcases her versatile voice and shows she can handle rock and country, too. Dean Parks joins Miss Peyroux for some nice guitar work here, and Sam Yahel’s piano (on this and other tracks) is also a standout.

Miss Peyroux’s voice sounds pleasingly old-fashioned on another of her co-written songs, “California Rain,” and she moves with lyrical ease through a cover of Tom Waits’ “(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night.” She’s light and delicate on the Fred Neil song “Everybody’s Talkin’.” On the Joni Mitchell track “River,” she shares the microphone with Canadian chanteuse K.D. Lang, who sounds unusually fragile here. (It’s unclear why the two chose to duet on such a personal song.)

Mark Orton provides string arrangements on two songs. Unfortunately, they come close to carrying the Peyroux original “Once in a While” over the edge of sappy.

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