k.d. lang: “Curiosity” (2000)
To my ears, 1992’s Ingénue is k.d. lang’s masterwork. She moved away from the cowpoke country toward a sophisticated adult contemporary sound that suited both her voice and songwriting abilities. I continued to follow her subsequent albums mainly to hear the songs that harkened back to the Ingénue sound, just as I followed Ben Folds’ hit-and-miss records after Reinhold Messner to hear the occasions in which he revisited the sad, beautiful melodies of his best album.
“Curiosity”, from 2000’s Invincible Summer, is one of those sumptuous, harmony-dripped melodies that would have fit right in on the 1992 album. I know lang has gotten a lot of praise for her covers of others’ songs, and she’s devoted whole albums to doing that. But personally I wouldn’t care if she sang another cover song–it’s her gift for inspired melody that I love most.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2015/07/01/songs-you-may-have-missed-539/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/10/29/recommended-albums-56/
