The Rooms That Once Made Up A Home

Norah Jones “Day Breaks”

“Day Breaks” sounds like the lull after a storm, in which two people survey the wreckage of their relationship and quietly wonder what to do next. Walk away? Attempt to rebuild? Pretend nothing happened? Crumble and weep? The arrangement is both delicate and melodramatic, respecting the small scale of this domestic unrest while fully respecting the high emotional stakes for the people involved. Norah Jones has achieved a level of success that makes it difficult to describe her as “underrated,” but her vocal performance here is a great example of the kind of presence, nuance, and control that tends to be undervalued in singers, and written off as sort of dull and “mature” in the derogatory sense. But fuck that, this is sophisticated work, and hits its emotional marks with grace and a high level of empathy.

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