Late At Night (Music Review: Carla Helmbrecht & Akio Sasajima - Quiet Intentions)

While I was listening to Carla Hembrecht and Akio Sasajima's album, Quiet Intentions, the first thing I thought to myself was, this is a late night album. Late Night Albums are what I call those recordings that are quiet, sensitive, almost-lullaby like - but they are sung with great expression that it would be impossible for them to put me to sleep. Julie London's albums, to me, are mostly late night albums. As a matter of fact, I find her albums almost impossible to listen to in daylight. So it wasn't a surprise that in an interview, Ms. Helmbrecht has said in an interview that the very first albums she owned was Julie London's My Name Is Julie. La London's influence is very evident in this album. I have always loved duet albums, and you can feel a great connection with Ms. Helmbrecht and Mr. Sasajima's guitar.  He plays to complement, and doesn't distract. Ms. Helmbrecht's cool school delivery is modern sounding, and she has great lyrical instincts.  The jaded critic in me can say that her song selections tend toward the familiar ("Slylark," "You Don't Know What Love Is") I found myself listenign to the tracks and not getting bored, and even on an old chestnut like "Bewitched, Bothered Bewildered,"  I am wowed and touched, which, really barely never happens nowadays.