Contriva frontwoman Masha Qrella has been a fave since “Don’t stop the dance” graced our ears more than 2 years ago. Haven’t heard much from her in the meantime, so imagine the joy of listening to Speak Low, 11 songs of recontextualized / covered music from two highly respected Broadway composers, Kurt Weill and Frederick Loewe famous for his work on My Fair Lady and Camelot.

Masha and Co. has taken on classical Broadway pieces and transformed them into spacy & bittersweet indie pop pieces. It’s sort of like a brighter Contriva apart from the heartrending version of “I talk to the trees”. Her vocals are heartfelt and she sounds incredibly elegant and wise as a singer, sort of like a female Bill Callahan. No wonder it’s another amazing album that goes on the #essential09 twitter list. Speak Low : Loewe and Weill in Exile is an exceptionally refined indie pop/rock album from Morr Music and a great way to celebrate German-American artists of the past century, revitalizing their songs with a new context and one that doesn’t feel like pillaging other people’s work, but sincere tries to create something new.

PS: tag your music #essential09 if you think you’ve hit jackpot this year.