Nicole Zuraitis: How Love Begins

Love is not for the faint of heart.  Its tides are unpredictable, bound to different souls, intensifying and ebbing in parallel to the feelings and favors of each individual who exerts their gravitational pull on an evolving romance.  Musically charting those waters—depicting the full scope of that sea through song—is no simple feat. Yet some supreme talents, like this one, make it happen and make it look easy. Nicole Zuraitis—a first-rate songwriter, powerhouse vocalist and grade-A pianist—proves to be an expert cartographer, mapping out every detail, nuance and shade of emotion surrounding the arc of a relationship.  

Something of a misnomer, How Love Begins details both the upswing and downfall in the design.   Split into two halves—"Oil" and "Water," confirming the maxim that opposites attract—each portion contains five songs that work perfectly within the topical trajectory. Opening on the searing blue heat of "The Good Ways," which benefits greatly from Maya Kronfeld 's temperature-pushing organ, Zuraitis directly addresses the excitement at the dawn of a love affair, when polarity is in play.  "Travel" moves further afield, with a wide-angled outlook, notable guitar work from Gilad Hekselman, and vocal enhancements from Thana Alexa and Julia Adamy, the leader's Sonica bandmates. Then "Reverie" resorts to woolgathering, with Zuraitis putting her own artful slant—and lyrics—on Claude Debussy's creation; the stripped-back "Let Me Love You" wonders aloud about where things truly stand; and the up-tempo "Burn," highlighting bassist and co-producer Christian McBride's contributions, hints at the way down with verbalized intentions to try a new romance.  

A poetess and purely expressive artist like no other, Zuraitis finds a way to encapsulate these cresting developments in inimitable fashion.  And she shows that same skill while working in the other direction.  The relaxed swing of "Two Fish" ushers the ears into the second half of the program and gives guest pianist David Cook a chance to shine.   The soulful and wise "Well Planned, Well Played" positions Zuraitis as open-eyed truthteller, laying it all out in slow 6/8 time and giving McBride some well-deserved space. Disillusion and dissolution both come calling on "20 Seconds," where Dan Pugach's dynamic drumming supports and steers the emotional rollercoaster above.  And tears pool up on the melancholic "Like Dew," where Zuraitis deals with a serious emotional pressure point. That's when things hit rock bottom for romance, but all hope isn't lost, of course, as "The Garden" and bonus track "Save It for a Rainy Day" make clear. Reaching a point of acceptance, and possessed of a dawning anticipation for new love, those numbers turn a corner and detail how love begins...anew.