Secular Hymns is a 2014 studio album by American vocal jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux. It has received positive reviews by critics.
Reception
Editors at AnyDecentMusic? rated this album a 7.2 out of 10, aggregating six scores.[1] According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Secular Hymns received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 from six critic scores.[2]
Editors at AllMusic rated this album 4 out of 5 stars, with critic Matt Collar writing that this album "finds the vocalist/guitarist delivering a stripped-down, largely acoustic set of warm, eclectic cover tunes... that's a 180-degree turn from her previous effort, 2013's ambitious homage to Ray Charles, The Blue Room.[3] At The Arts Desk, Mark Kidel rated this album 3 out of 5 stars and characterized Peyroux as a "sultry cabaret chanteuse with shades of late-night jazz and the endemic melancholy of the blues" but complains that "this is blues lite, too clean for comfort".[4]DownBeat's J. Poet gave 5 out of 5 stars to Secular Hymns and praised the ensemble on this recording: "Herington’s guitar adds blue, sliding, sustained notes that echo the crying tone of a steel guitar to support Peyroux’s somber vocal".[5] John Fordham of The Guardian praised the combination of "intimate exuberance and classic songs" captured in the live-in-studio setting and rated this release 4 of 5 stars.[6]
In The Irish Times Cormac Larkin rated Secular Hymns 3 out of 5 stars, ending "they’re the sort of songs that can sound hollow and insincere in the wrong hands, but Peyroux delivers every word like her life depends on it".[7] Christopher Loudon of JazzTimes called the blending of blues music, Gospel music, and jazz "a marvelous mélange".[8]The Observer's Dave Gelly scored this release 4 of 5 stars for "the warm intimacy of her voice and the incisive clarity of the arrangements".[9] Writing for PopMatters, Steve Horowitz a 7 out of 10, summing up that "Peyroux offers fine performances, but they are hers and not the originals" and these songs are "mostly well-known classics from the past—they aren’t records meant to be broken but to be replayed again for their own merits".[10]
Track listing
"Got You on My Mind" (Howard Biggs and Joe "Cornbread" Thomas) – 4:30
