Tonina's St. Lost

Recently, St. Louis has had much to celebrate. This past Wednesday, our local NHL team, The Blues, succeeded in winning their first Stanley Cup. The city has had Blues Fever for the last 96 hours, with parades, fireworks, and loads of drinking (and recovering from hangovers).

However, that hasn't been the only event for which St. Louis can claim bragging rights. It may not have garnered the same about of media attention, but I feel it's worth pointing out simply for the quality of the work in question.

I'm talking about the release of St. Louis' own Tonina Saputo's second full length album, St. Lost. 

That Tonina, only a year after releasing her debut album, Black Angel, was able to create a new one is a feat in and of itself (speed, of course, isn't mandatory in creating art). And Angel was a hard act to follow. Not many debut album's get shout outs from a Former President of the United States. That it did is a testament to her ability as an artist and the quality of the music she produces. It's clear though, from St. Lost, that she's not an artist to rest on her laurels. While the musical sensibility and creative "voice," as it were, remain the same, St. Lost is quite different compared to its predecessor.

One of the hallmarks of Tonina's musical style is her ability to sing in multiple languages, specifically English and Spanish. Most of Black Angel's tracks were Spanish songs, with only five of the eleven featured tracks being English ones. With St. Lost, she opted to flip the script on that. Out of the twelves featured tracks, only two of them are sung completely, or in the case of Esperanza partly, in Spanish. 

You wouldn't think that such a change would make such a difference in the sound of the songs themselves, but when you compare the two, it does. Whereas Angel's largely Spanish track list, even at their slowest tempos, gave the album a largely joyful, energetic mood, St. Lost's English track list seems to give the album a more melancholic, yearning mood. A twinge of longing sadness underlines this whole album. Tonina's natural vocals, of course, carry off this differing tone perfectly though. 

Along with the change in language majority, another contributing factor that adds to the darker tone of the album is the near uniform tempo of most of the songs themselves. 

Black Angel was an album of variety, with the track list featuring a mixture of tempos and tones. (Most first albums are since they're supposed to display what an artist can do.) None of St. Lost's tracks are nearly as slow as her songs, While My Guitar Gently Weeps or Mi Votu e Mi Rivotu from Black Angel, nor are any, save the final track, Myself, as fast as Calypso Blues or No Queda Nada. 

Instead, most of the songs of St. Lost remain within or very near to an overarching, consistent range of tempo . You might not find yourself wanting to stand up and dance to most of these songs. Rather, you'll find yourself swaying to them. This consistent palate of speed serves to make the album less of a variety pack and more a unifying piece of art. 

Each of the tracks though, is an experience unto itself. The title track, St. Lost, begins in a way that might remind people of songs like the Rolling Stone's Paint it Black, with a slow beginning that erupts into a fast musical composition. Outer Love might bring to mind some songs by the late David Bowie, like Major Tom or Life on Mars, with its undulations from one volume to another. Yet, despite these analogies I'm drawing, the songs are nonetheless their own thing, just as Tonina's voice is its own thing. 

If this is where her musical journey has led her, after only one year, one can only wonder what will come next. No matter where she goes though, I'm certain the experience will be something unique. (Check out the video below for a sample of what you're ears are in for.)