Vanessa Carlton

For all the hype surrounding doe-eyed songstress Vanessa Carlton's move to Murder Inc—partying on Irv's yacht, the tour drug confessions, new friendship with co-writer Stevie Nicks—fans might expect her third release to mark a dramatic reinvention for the piano-tinkling songwriter, or, at the very least, some innovation. Strangely, this latest release feels more like a fumbling debut than the work of a Grammy-winning, platinum-selling artist; instead of the charm of Be Not Nobody or Harmonium's elegantly haunting melodies, the record is unsure and sometimes juvenile.

While opening single "Nolita Fairytale" is a pretty, swooping instruction to "take the glitz back, I want the soul instead," the following tracks falter with weak melodies and bland tales of her first forays into the adult world. A large disappointment is Carlton's usually-distinctive distinctive voice, which this time fails to enchant: straining on "Undone" and holding none of its usual clarity. Only the final few tracks deliver on her early potential: "Fools Like Me" brings delicate violin to shadow a wistful vocal, while "More Than This" manages to capture her trademark sincerity with a layered piano ballad and full crescendo.

—Abby McDonald
10.04.07

Vanessa Carlton spent much of her second album, Harmonium, running away from the pop success that her 2002 debut, Be Not Nobody, and its inescapable hit single, "A Thousand Miles," brought her, choosing to turn inward and confessional. It was an artistic decision that had a perhaps predictable side effect: it didn't sell nearly as much as the debut, failing to crack the Top 30 and generating not one hit single. Given this sophomore slump, it's not entirely surprising that for her third album, 2007's Heroes & Thieves, she's elected for a compromise between the two extremes: embracing the soft pop that brought her fame without rejecting the confessionals that distinguished her second. Some of this is merely straightforward heartache -- after the 2004 release of Harmonium, Carlton parted ways with Stephan Jenkins, the Third Eye Blind leader who produced the album -- but there are other matters on her mind, as evidenced by the mother-daughter saga "Spring Street" and the line about losing her record deal on the album's opening song and single, "Nolita Fairytale." True, she's moved from A&M to the rap-identified The Inc., but this isn't as drastic a change as it seems: the two labels are within the Universal umbrella, and Carlton has hardly gone hip-hop here. Instead, Heroes & Thieves delivers the expected, even more so than her second album: sweeping gusts of piano, sounds that feel dramatic but not weighty. Like on Be Not Nobody, there's a sense of lightness to Carlton's writing -- even if things get a little sad here, they're not gloomy -- which not only makes her accessible, it means that it's as easy to take this as mood music as it is for introspection. That Carlton doesn't quite provide incentive to dig deeper could be called a flaw -- her voice is too sweet and girlish to command, her melodies mellifluous but not grabbing -- but Heroes & Thieves flows easily, and it's a nice return to the strengths of her debut. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide