On Her New Record, Suzanne Vega Playfully Flips Through Her Costume Catalogue

Suzanne released her last full-length album Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Pentacles eleven years ago. It was followed by the collection Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers with music primarily written for the theatre play Carson McCullers Talks About Love and the live album An Evening of New York Songs and Stories. However, we had to wait until this year for a full portion of new material. The album was already heralded last autumn by the unexpectedly rock-driven single "Rats", but the whole Flying With Angels album offers a much more colourful musical experience.

Suzanne Vega is the quintessential Brooklyn intellectual. Well-read, with an extraordinary cultural insight but also socially sensitive and active at charity events of all kinds. In recent years, she has also spent a lot of time performing in musicals Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, which was based on the 1969 film of the same name.

Her interest in literature is also reflected in the lyrics of Flying With Angels. "Chambermaid" is Suzanne's double-edged homage to Bob Dylan, in which she cleverly subverts his piece "I Want You" by retelling it from the point of view of the maid Bob briefly mentioned in the original. Years ago, Tom Stoppard put a similar spin on Shakespeare's Hamlet in his play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, placing the supporting characters, two of the prince's friends and former schoolmates, centre stage. In addition, Suzanne has subtly woven a feminist perspective into her version of the story: "I revere the places where he stayed / and clean crumbs from his typewriter."

The current tense global situation strongly influenced the overall sound of the album. "Each song on the album takes place in an atmosphere of struggle. The struggle to survive, to speak, to dominate, to win, to escape, to help someone else, or just live," explains the artist herself in the promo materials. The opening "Speaker's Corner" speaks of freedom of speech and how that privilege is often abused, the angsty ballad "Last Train from Mariupol" propels us into the midst of war in Ukraine, and the punk rock parable "Rats" notes that survival of the fittest in the city (here meaning rats) is never very pretty.

What can musicians appreciate about the album?

On her new album, we can again witness a close musical connection between the singer and Irish guitarist Gerry Leonard. The duo enjoy dressing up the songs in quite different arrangements. The album is framed by songs that feature on the author's first three albums (did you know that it's been forty years since the release of Suzanne Vega's untitled debut?!). Acoustic guitar, a straight rock rhythm and still extremely pleasant vocals invite us on a journey full of experimental pop pieces from Suzanne Vega's world.

The dreamy title track is built on floating guitar lines, the rhythmically punchy "Witch" sounds like a fusion of U2 and Peter Gabriel, the funk-tinged "Love Thief" with its prominent bass line, synths and vocal choruses is suitable for a quiet café atmosphere, and the effects-driven "Lucinda" proudly claims the experimental pop period of 99.9F° and Nine Objects of Desire. And let's not forget the already mentioned noisy and straightforward single "Rats", which some reviewers describe as grungy. In short, in less than forty minutes of listening to this ten-part puzzle, we experience so much that it is essential to re-listen to fully absorb all the musical or lyrical details.  

Although Suzanne Vega kept her listeners waiting for a long time, she finally rewarded them with a collection that must at least soften most of them, if not outright delight them. In short, Flying With Angels marks the artist's grand comeback.

Suzanne Vega – Flying With Angels

Cooking Vinyl 2025, 00:37:34

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