Inara George with Van Dyke Parks

An Invitation (Everloving)

Best to RSVP to Inara George and Van Dyke Parks’ Invitation. The legendary arranger worked with George’s late father, Lowell, in the 1970s and, as he did with Joanna Newsom, lays down an accomplished bed of horns, violins, and cellos to draw out her voice. “Overture” warms up, then she drops in: “Want to find the bottom of my heart. Want to be alone until I’m lonely.” If that hasn’t set the tone, “Right as Wrong” inscribes George’s melancholy. Yet with a voice as smooth and dark as onyx, she also wears a smirk on her sleeve. “Dirty White” confesses, “When nobody’s here, my eyes leave my body, my sex stands beside me, just me and my dirty white bones,” a stunning mouthful over the song’s Disney flutter. The 13 tracks on this sophomore disc can be indistinguishable in their chirpiness, but George’s balance of whimsy and a furrowed brow gives the Invitation its lovely charm.

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This article appears in August 22 • 2008.

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