k.d. lang - "Invincible Summer"
k.d. lang
“Invincible Summer”
Warner Bros. - June 20, 2000
It’s always unexpected being reminded of a forgotten friend and such was the case with recalling “Invincible Summer” by k.d. lang. I was re-watching “The Larry Sanders Show,” a fantastic parody of late-night television talk shows starring Garry Shandling. lang appears as herself and her brilliant ongoing feud with smarmy sidekick, “Hank,” (played remarkably by Jeffrey Tambor) loudly punctuates her Canadian “cow-punk” roots (as Rolling Stone once referred to her) when she blasts him as a “sick fuck” for vacuuming naked with the shades open when they were neighbors. Seeing her reminded me of her album, “Invincible Summer.” I’d been turned on to it by a friend whose grandfather, the legendary Tony Bennett, had begun working with lang, and “Invincible Summer” blew me away. From the 70’s SoCal cover art to the lush modernized take on a Brill Building devotion to smooth production it’s an absolute summer classic. The opening, “Consequences Of Falling,” is a sexy updated torch song while the string crescendos that line up with a synthy drum beat on “Summer Fling” should be a required playlist inclusion for any cocktail hour as the sun sets over a body of water. “It’s Happening With You,” is a subtle mid-tempo hip shaker, and both “Love’s Great Ocean” and “What Better Said” showcase lang’s mezzo-soprano vocals with hypnotizing lounge-y simmer. To say this was not what I expected from k.d. lang would be an understatement but her career has been a bold defiance of easy genre definition (name another artist who has appeared on albums by Anne Murray and The Killers) and this one is an absolute seasonal treasure.
Standouts: "Summer Fling," Love's Great Ocean," "What Better Said"
