Published on Sep 23, 2015
It's been a few years since Weaver's fist installment of her futurist yet retro sci-fi jazz landed, and on her second offering she continues to marry spacey electronica with rich sounds that could date as far as back as the '30s. The longtime singer covers many traditionals and classics with her own silky spin on Interstellar Songbook II, breathing new life into timeless tunes you won't soon forget.
Weaver starts the album off with an apt atmosphere on “Interstellar Intro II,” where light and spacey sounds meet with soundbites that transition into one of the best-known covers here, originally done by Cole Porter. Low keys complement the quaint jazz feeling, as Weaver does justice to Porter's “Begin The Beguine.” Weaver continues this quaint jazz atmosphere on “Golden Earrings” before the soft angelic backing vocals “Moonlight Serenade,” both of which seem to suit her nostalgic approach perfectly. Weaver then covers a '50s tune with a playful version of a song more recently popularized by Michael Buble titled “Sway” before going back in time to cover “Summer Kisses, Winter Tears” (Elvis Presley) and then ever further back in time for The Ink Spots biggest hit “If I Didn't Care.”
Near the end of the disc, Weaver get sultry and bilingual on Johnny Mercer's “Autumn Leaves,” and haunting and soothing on Herman Hupfield's “As Time Goes By” before exiting on the soft, sparse “When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano,” another song made popular by The Ink Spots.
For most people, this will be the first time they've heard these songs, even though many of them have been covered dozens or even hundreds of times. This is an ideal listen for those who want to familiarize themselves with influential songs of decades past or for those seeking a nostalgic feeling from some of the most embraced moments in musical history.