Review: Suzanne Vega – Flying With Angels
Suzanne Vega – Flying with Angels
Format: CD – Vinyl LP – Digital / Label: Cooking Vinyl Limited
Release: 2025
Text: Andy Trachsel
After a hiatus of 10 years there’s a new album of folk-pop singer-songwriter Susanne Vega. The new album is called ‘Flying With Angels’ and is a poetic helicopter view on the current status of society. We know her from songs like My Name Is Luka, Marlene On The Wall and Tom’s Dinner. Her voice is the same but the genre of the 10 songs is more versatile.
The first track is called Speakers’ Corner referring to the standup box in Hyde Park where everyone can express their opinion on certain themes. And yes Suzanne is doing also regarding social media. The song is musically how we know Suzanne, folk-pop with her soft familiar voice.
The title track Flying With Angels has a guitar-layer which could be played by The Edge from U2 with lots of dreamy effects. You can imagine her flying with angels and looking at the earth below.
Then een acoustic guitar plays a stairway to heaven like intro for the next track Witch. When the voodoo woman descends in our brains in a stage of emergency the song becomes heavier. What a groovy beat, a U2 guitar again and a synth bass. Suzanne is back!
Chambermaid could be a mashup mix of the Simon and Garfunkel song Homeward Bound and I Want You from Bob Dylan. Cleverly borrowed and composed in a new song. Love Thief is a soulful seventies song in which Suzanne produces a surprisingly good Philly sound!
With this new album she is proving to be a musical diamand with many sides.
In the next track Lucinda she is honouring my favourite Americana singer Lucinda Williams. Angel and a sometimes beast musically accentuated by the Fender guitar of musical companion Gerry Leonard.
The flying angel has also noticed the war an despair in Ukraine. The track Last Train From Mariupol tells us about the curse that history repeats itself. No lessons learned. On secondary vocals her daughter Ruby Froom.
Alley is a very radio friendly popsong. A nice balanced minimal production with drums, acoustic guitars, synths and angelic background vocals. Another side of the musical diamond is the new wave song Rats. Listen to the Farfisa organ we know from Elvis Costello or the Stranglers.
The album ends with the track Galway, a romantic song about an impossible love. Storytelling Suzanne Vega at her best.
With ‘Flying With Angels’ Suzanne Vega is back with a beautiful palette of songs which crosses musical borders. She still matters!
Tour:
30 september: Koninklijk Theater Carré – Amsterdam
02 oktober: Luxor Theater – Rotterdam
Tracks:
01. Speakers’ Corner
02. Flying with Angels
03. Witch
04. Chambermaid
05. Love Thief
06. Lucinda
07. Last Train from Mariupol
08. Alley
09. Rats
10. Galway
Website: https://www.suzannevega.com/