Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin

The story is that after Madeleine Peyroux released her first album to much acclaim, she disappeared. Literally disappeared; I don’t mean that her career went nowhere.

Seven years (seven years!) later she was discovered busking in Paris. Somehow she got dragged back into the recording studio for a second album -- and then disappeared again while on tour in Europe -- only for a week, but after that she cancelled the rest of her concert dates. And you thought Chan Marshall had performance anxiety.

So I was absolutely shocked to learn that Peyroux has put out a third album, Half the Perfect World, and so soon after Careless Love. I can’t help thinking that she’s pushing out albums as fast as possible to fulfill her contract and leave this life again. I’m going to see her this Wednesday at the Danforth Music Hall in case she disappears for another seven years.

Her gravelly voice sounds exactly like Billie Holliday, right down to the effortless world-weary delivery. I can’t say I’m as big a fan of her as I am of Stacey Kent, but her version of “Dance Me to the End of Love” sends chills down my spine every time I hear it.

Madeleine Peyroux website
Madeleine Peyroux on MySpace