Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles Suzanne Vega

• 1 Crack in the Wall 04:23
• 2 Fool's Complaint 02:39
• 3 I Never Wear White 03:08
• 4 Portrait of the Knight of Wands 04:18
• 5 Don't Uncork What You Can't Contain 03:31
• 6 Jacob and the Angel 04:05
• 7 Silver Bridge 03:47
• 8 Song of the Stoic 04:05
• 9 Laying on of Hands / Stoic 2 03:52
• 10 Horizon (There Is a Road) 02:50
• Total Runtime 36:38

Info for Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles

Vegas first new studio album in seven years, features ten new songs each telling a story that has to do with the material world and the world of the spirit and how they intersect. Suzanne spent the past few years writing and recording these new gems on the road, recording portions in Chicago, London, Prague, LA and New York City, and Kyserike Station, an old train station in upstate New York. Tracking for the album took place mostly at the Clubhouse Studios in Rhinebeck, and the album was mixed by Kevin Killen, who has worked with Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. "A lot of my older albums, especially the second one, were about being solitary. This album has more of a sense of connectivity, there is a different spirit". Queen of Pentacles taps into Vegas broad range of musical tastes, intertwining Dylan/Stones inspired guitar-driven songs with lush orchestral strings and trumpet, soul-packed background vocals and Vegas masterful classic folk elements. A fan of hip hop as well, Vega samples the 50 Cent hit song Candy Shop for one of the more unique tracks on the album, Dont Uncork What You Cant Contain. This is Suzannes first sampling effort " although her song Toms Diner has been interpolated countless times in the hip-hop community, she has not sampled anyone else until this album.

"The four volumes in Suzanne Vega's Close-Up series revisited her catalog thematically with stripped-down charts. It appealed to her base of fans who patiently waited seven years for new material. The ten songs on Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles fits that bill. The set was produced by longtime associate and co-writer Gerry Leonard, and played by a weighty studio cast. The album isn't so much a change of musical direction as it is a classy revisioning of Vega's trademark sound. These tracks address many of humanity's big themes through Vega's canny, detailed gaze, sometimes with the added weight of the metaphorical wisdom from the tarot. "Crack in the Wall" is a Buddhist reflection on awareness with the songwriter's signature tight lines and vivid physical descriptions. Its martial snare and painterly electric guitars are countered by Larry Campbell's mandolin and banjo. "I Never Wear White" is a punchy rocker with Leonard's big fuzzy guitars up front, a whomping bassline by Tony Levin, and the loud drums of Jay Bellerose. Its lyric reveals Vega has lost none of her wry sense of humor. "Don't Uncork What You Can't Contain" samples 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" in an allegorical tale about caution, with Pandora as one of its muses. "Song of the Stoic" updates "Luka," in a sense. Written from a drifting, hardworking male's point of view, it uncovers the emotional cost that physical abuse can take on an adult life. Its musical vehicle is angular rockist Americana, with the Smichov Chamber Orchestra Prague providing windswept accompaniment, making the lyric's emotional impression indelible. "Laying on of Hands/Stoic 2" discusses the cost of repression -- physical and psychological -- with Mother Teresa and Epictetus its referent examples. The rumbling bassline and slippery backbeat feeds Vega's sung cadences as a psych-tinged six-string fills lines and codas; both feature the powerful backing vocals of Catherine Russell. Not everything here works, though. "Portrait of the Knight of Wands," despite its attractive melody, is marred by a very clunky refrain, and "Jacob and the Angel" feels more like a demo than a finished track. Closer "Horizon (There Is a Road)" is dedicated to Václav Havel's memory. It's a gentle acoustic rocker with an elegant trumpet solo in the bridge. It's the one place here where Vega's trademark detachment doesn't reign. Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles is a welcome return by an artist who has remained stubbornly true to herself and only records when she has something new to say." (Thom Jurek, AMG)

Suzanne Vega, vocals, guitar
Gerry Leonard, acoustic and electric guitars, harmonium
Larry Campbell, banjo, mandolin, cimbalom on tracks 1, 2, 8, 10
Gail Ann Dorsey, bass on tracks 1, 2, 6 and 8
Tony Levin, bass on tracks 3 and 5
Mike Visceglia, bass on tracks 9 and 10
Zachary Alford, drums, percussion on tracks 1, 2, 6 and 8
Jay Bellerose, drums on track 3
Sterling Campbell, drums on tracks 5 and 9
Doug Yowell, drums on tracks 1, 4, 7, 9 and 10
Joji Hirota, Taiko Drums, shakuhachi on tracks 5 and 6
Alison Balsom, trumpet on track 10
Catherine Russell, backing vocals on tracks 1, 2, 8, 9
Smichov Chamber Orchestra, Prague (strings on tracks 5, 6, 8)
Josef Vondracek, conductor

Recorded 2013 at Clubhouse Studios (NY), Kyserike Station (NY), One East Studios, (NY), Studio Disk Barrandov (Prague)
Produced by Gerry Leonard

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This album contains no booklet.