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The title goes a long way to deciphering this album with some key snippets uncovered as you dig a little deeper. BORROWED is essentially a covers album with a gaping swing between some obvious standards and those significantly more buried. Such albums can divide opinion especially when there is so much original songwriting around, and spinning things a little differently can often be the key to earning an ear. The eleven songs here are delicately spun with a degree of individual interpretation to capitalise on a early January release where the field is somewhat thinner. The most intriguing part of browsing this record is discovering more about the artist.
Grey DeLisle was an active American recording artist in the early years of the twenty-first century before finding an almost hidden niche as a widely renowned voice-over artist with a a prolific output and acclaimed status. Scooby-Doo and The Simpsons jump out from a packed biography that has dominated her professional life for a considerable period with plenty of further information available from a couple of simple searches. The tense 'was' turns to 'is' on the music front in the first week of 2023 with the release of a first record since 2007 and a team up with acclaimed producer Marvin Etzioni. The post-script to this record is the intended scheduling of a return to original material with a follow up record later this year.
In the meantime if you have the urge for new versions of 'Another Brick in the Wall', 'Tonight You Belong To Me', 'Georgia on My Mind' and 'You Only Live Twice' to name an obvious quartet, merit will be found in allowing BORROWED into your listening library. The odd track out of origin is 'Borrowed and Blue' which is a deLisle/Etzioni credit possessing a faint country sound echoing the spirit of Dolly Parton and lifted from an earlier album. The range of the choices is epitomised in sourcing 'Girl' from a 1971 T-Rex album to the traditionally credited 'Willie We Have Missed You' derived from a delve into the work of legendary nineteenth century musician Stephen Foster.
DeLisle's distinct vocals are a satisfying presence across the record with the musical input swaying between subtle roots and more lavish yet simple contemporary. The reach of such a record is largely unknown, but any places it lands will be suitably furnished for a short while. Perhaps the most poignant moment on the record is sampling the past in the guise of standout song 'Borrowed and Blue'. The renewed phase of Grey DeLisle's musical career is likely to be defined on what happens next with original material being the key. BORROWED may well be the tempter and the catalyst, but even taking that view doesn't disguise the simple one off worth of stamping a mark on some oldies.