Inara George with Van Dyke Parks Issue #37

An Invitation (Everloving)

By Maya Kroth
Published: September 1st, 2008 | 12:49am

Inara George’s latest opens with the instrumental “Overture,” a jubilant symphonic introduction to her collaborator, Van Dyke Parks, a noted arranger and close friend of Inara’s late father, Lowell George. In the ‘60s, Parks was helping Brian Wilson write lyrics for SMiLE and producing Randy Newman’s debut, but now, nearly 30 years after Lowell George’s death, Parks finds himself in-studio with the younger George, who he’s known since she was in diapers.

George invited Parks to add an orchestral sweep to these 13 tracks, painting a Fantasia-like fairytale landscape of strings, piano, accordion, and woodwinds behind her airy, velvet voice. The cinematic score atop George’s unusual melodies — some not very melodic at all — creates a sort of musical-theatre feel, which fits well with George’s visual lyrics. Each track is its own little story-song, even if the plot isn’t always easy to decipher; “Idaho” is a dark narrative about an encounter, perhaps an ill-fated love affair, between a man on the run from his past and a barmaid in search of relevance. Parks’s piano and string section are a fittingly foreboding soundtrack for the pair’s shadowy private Idaho. Sensual cellos and grand, looping violins set the tone for the cryptic but compelling “Dirty White,” while ominous bassoons haunt the dour “Bomb.” When a chorus of European-sounding accordions chimes in with George’s delicate lilt, it’s as if Audrey Hepburn suddenly burst into song in the middle of Roman Holiday.

Those expecting the tight, bouncy electro-pop of George’s other project, the Bird and the Bee will find nothing of the sort here. Where TBATB was heavy on rhythm, An Invitation has no drums and the songs never really build to a rock-song crescendo or get lodged in your brain the way a fizzy pop tune does. Yet An Invitation is still unmistakably Inara, and another testament to her ever-expanding versatility.