Fragile Beauty

"Over the last decade the Paris-based singer Huong Thanh and the guitarist and producer Nguyên Lê have developed a unique musical style blending Vietnamese traditional song with jazz harmonies and global sounds. With 'Fragile Beauty' they have produced their most mature and successful album since the critically acclaimed 2001 release Dragonfly.

In the sleeve notes, Lê writes that the music draws inspiration from the Buddhist-influenced images often found in Vietnamese poetry, which reflect on "the world's impermanence" and the "fragility of existence". The meditative tone is set with the opening track "Drifting on the Water" as Huong Thanh's elegant voice floats over a mellow, jazzy accompaniment on piano and steel acoustic guitar with impressionistic percussion provided on brushes, cymbals and the pandeiro frame drum. On later tracks, delicate textures emerge through innovative combinations of Asian instruments, like the Vietnamese dan bau monochord and the Japanese koto zither, and an assortment of African percussion.

The album is dominated by slow and medium-paced songs with stripped down accompaniments, occasionally enhanced with touches of electronica and sampled grooves. This gives ample space for Thanh's voice to soar and glide, like on "Go Cong Blues", a gorgeously executed rendition of a boatmen work song from southern Vietnam. The title-track is a carefully crafted piece and blends diverse sonorities with precision and restraint, deftly encapsulating Buddhist-inspired sentiments. Beauty may indeed be ephemeral, but this music at least gives us some beautiful moments to savour."
- Barley Norton (Songlines)