Norah Jones has shared her spirited new song ‘Staring at the Wall‘ along with an accompanying video which was directed by Jones and Kyle Paas and features studio footage as well as Norah’s handwritten lyrics. It’s the second track to be revealed from the nine-time Grammy winning singer, songwriter, and pianist’s vibrant ninth solo studio album Visions which comes out March 8 on Blue Note Records. A collaboration with producer and multi-instrumentalist Leon Michels, the album was introduced last month with the lead single ‘Running.’
“This is one of my favorites,” Jones says of ‘Staring at the Wall,’ which was co-written by Jones and Michels and features Norah on vocals, guitar, and piano with Leon on bass, drums, and tambourine. “It was kind of a left turn from everything else on the album. It’s the first time I played guitar with Leon, we were just trying to come up with something different. I got on guitar and he got on drums and it just took off. It’s just so fun to play music sometimes, and I feel like on this album there were a lot of those times. He had a really cool guitar sound going for me so it just felt good.”
Visions is a 12-song set that finds Jones singing about feeling free, wanting to dance, making it right, and acceptance of what life brings. It’s the yang to the yin that was Pick Me Up Off The Floor, Jones’ last album of new original songs which was released early in the pandemic lockdown of 2020 and foreshadowed many of the dark emotions of that period.
“The reason I called the album Visions is because a lot of the ideas came in the middle of the night or in that moment right before sleep.” says Jones. “We did most of the songs in the same way where I was at the piano or on guitar and Leon was playing drums and we were just jamming on stuff. I like the rawness between me and Leon, the way it sounds kind of garage-y but also kind of soulful, because that’s where he’s coming from, but also not overly perfected.”
