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(More customer reviews)The best thing about Alanis Morissette is that she wears her heart on her sleeve through her music, and new album "Flavors of Entanglement" is no exception. She realizes there is strength in vulnerability, and with that knowledge shares her growth as an individual as well as a musician.
The pearls of wisdom beyond her years typical of Morissette abound in this new collection, but thanks in large part to producer Guy Sigsworth these songs have more edge and grit than anything she's released since the '90s. These songs sway, caress, mesmerize and most definitely rock. Those seeking a return of the so-called "angry" Alanis from 1995's "Jagged Little Pill" will probably never come any closer to it than this new record, but this time around she is older and wiser, and the songs are stronger for it.
Morissette is able to be thoroughly autobiographical yet remain accessible. She will easily resonate here with those struggling to cope with death, whatever kind of death that may be. She has mentioned repeatedly in interviews hitting "rock bottom" upon demise of her engagement to actor Ryan Reynolds and how that informed "Flavors..." The album certainly reflects death - in this case, death of a relationship. Never hiding her bruises, she nevertheless moves forward toward the light at the end of the tunnel.
Rockers like the righteous "Citizen of the Planet" (My frontier is on an airplane/My prisons: homes for rehabilitating) and "Versions of Violence" rub shoulders easily with sunny melodies like "In Praise of the Vulnerable" and melancholy ballads like "Not As We," but despite the variety there are no particular standouts amid the album's slim 11 tracks, and that is a benefit here; "Flavors..." is thoroughly an album in the classic `70s sense. These songs, while certainly able to stand alone, unravel in succession, letting Morissette narrate a story. Because of this, a selection like lead single "Underneath" with its radio-friendly production and insightful lyrics ("Spotlight on these seeds of simpler reasons/This core, born into form, starts in my living room") sits comfortably aside the angry, swirling "Straitjacket" ("One day I'll introduce myself and you'll see you've not met me.")
This album may have been a long time in coming, but lyrics like these from the urgent, chest-pumping "Moratorium," which snap and jerk amid Sigsworth's spellbinding production, prove it was worth the wait:
"I declare a moratorium on things relationship/I declare a respite from the toils of liaison/I do need a breather from the flavors of entanglement/I declare a full time-out from all things commitment."
The loss she chronicles reaches its apex on the downcast, revelatory "Torch" ("I never thought I'd have to lay down my torch for you") but simmers down on "Giggling Again For No Reason," where she clears her head with a spontaneous drive out of LA to breathe in the California sunset and feel the ocean against her skin. "I can feel the bones are smiling in my body," she sings. "I can see the meltings of inhibition." Sigsworth's sparkling production and the rapturous melody fit the song like a glove, making it an ideal summer tune.
Though she's giggling again, she can't turn off the "Tapes" in her head that fill her with inaccurate, unfair self-appraisals ("`I am someone easy to leave/Even easier to forget'/A voice, if inaccurate") that continue to foster her insecurities. Nevertheless, on the disc's hearty conclusion, the bittersweet, rousing "Incomplete," she proudly owns her flaws and the humanity they underscore with a new outlook on life:
"I have been running so sweaty my whole life urgent for a finish line/I have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete."
Morissette continually proves herself to be the underappreciated poet laureate of this generation's contemporary singer/songwriters for this generation. She has a sharp insight into the human condition that is uniquely hers. By inviting listeners along on her journey of self-discovery she helps them gain insight into themselves as well, all the while entertaining. She is certainly a force to reckon with. The few extra dollars are worth investing for this deluxe edition, which comes with 5 leftover compositions from the album's sessions. The bitter, self-critical "The Guy Who Leaves" sizzles with tingly electronic beats and swirls amid Morissette's urgents vocals, while "Orchid" and "Madness" are both understated, poignant, positively beautiful ballads. Bittersweet coming-of-age tale "Limbo No More" has a profoundly moving orchestral arrangement, while the joyous, folksy "On the Tequila" is set to turn more than a few heads. It is not for lack of quality but simply because they do not fit the scheme of the album that these songs are bonus cuts. The above average fan will certainly find them worthwhile.
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The first studio album from Alanis Morissette since 2004, Flavors Of Entanglement fuses the organic and the techno-prompted by producer Guy Sigsworth (Madonna, Björk). Incorporating beats, loops and synthesizers, the album was designed, says Morissette, so listeners can "dance your face off." Balancing introspective confession and delirious joy, the global and the personal, Flavors Of Entanglement is a tasty new musical feast from one of pop’s most intriguing artists.
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