The Holly Cole Trio featuring Holly Cole on Vocals, Aaron Davis on Piano and David Piltch on Double Bass return to NativeDSD with the album Girl Talk from 2xHD. This is the 2nd album at NativeDSD for both Holly Cole and the duo of Piltch and Davis.

Holly Cole ignites the unspoken. Whether singing in the Yukon or New York City, she breathes the fresh air of irony through the smoky, dimly-lit longing for intimacy – traditionally a dangerous haven for a woman’s shouldering soul.

Working here with producer Peter Moore, she preserves the quintessence of her live performances. Inspired by fifties photos of Billie Holiday, Peter choreographs musicians around a single mike, letting “biofeedback”: and the acoustics of the space do the rest: live off the floor.

The revival of this unique recording process takes risks unheard of in these technology-laden times. The result? A trio perfectly attuned to each other and every nuance of their music. As they explore jazz, country, pop and R&B, somehow the customary meanings in these forms are transformed by a contemporary sensibility – nostalgia has no place on this musical map.

But Holly’s no supersaturated cynic. David’s percussive imagination sparks the Maritimes exuberance she lets fly through the joyous tune Cruisin’. (She slips back into a down-east accent as easy and salty as John Johnson’s sax). And the solicitude each syllable of I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry receives is her way of bringing the natural empathy of country music to an audience well-versed in “sophistication”.

Guest trumpeter John MacLeod sketches the plains – those miles we live in no matter where we are. Holly’s taste for intriguing lyrics as well as the sonorous range of her timbre is much in evidence on the remaining songs in this collection – from the exquisitely world weary Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most to Melancholy Baby’s mingling of vaudeville and vulnerability.

Her duet with Dave on My Baby Just Cares For Me is a joust – but all in jest. In case you don’t get the gist of How Long Has This Been Going On, I’ll quote Holly once more: “It’s about prostitution”. The recording ends with a compassionate interpretation of Downtown – a song Holly finds touchingly naive.

Holly Cole Trio
Holly Cole – Vocals
Aaron Davis – Piano
David Piltch – Double Bass

Guest Musicians
John Johnson – Saxophone on “Cruisin”
John MacLeod – Trumpet on “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”