![\"M-34-suzanne-vega\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/M-34-suzanne-vega.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nIn the seven years since Suzanne Vega released Beauty and Crime<\/i>\u2014her last studio album of original material\u2014she released four collections of her songs in reworked forms as the Close-Up <\/i>series. For her latest album, Tales From the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles<\/i>, she changed her tack. \u201cThe focus of the new album is wider than the Close-Up<\/i> series,\u201d says Vega. \u201cWe tried to get as much production as we could, considering the limited budget.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new focus on economy, inspired by releasing the album on her own Amanuensis Productions, also helped Vega branch out in terms of production technique. Though her work has been sampled many times, Vega experimented with sampling for the first time on \u201cDon\u2019t Uncork What You Can\u2019t Contain,\u201d by taking the Arabic-influenced strings from rapper 50 Cent\u2019s \u201cCandy Shop.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always liked Scott Storch\u2019s productions, and he tends to favor those strings,\u201d she says. \u201cRather than hiring Scott Storch, which costs $90,000 a track, Gerry Leonard\u2014who wanted the producer\u2019s job\u2014decided to sample it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vega\u2019s appreciation of hip-hop on the song includes a name-drop of Macklemore. \u201cI really loved that \u2018Thrift Shop\u2019 track,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve been a fan of thrift shops my whole life. I was thinking about how to get an oil lamp into the song. I was thinking, \u2018Where would a person find an oil lamp? Ah! Thrift shop!\u2019 Then I thought, \u2018I\u2019m just going to throw him in there.\u2019 It was a gamble, but I thought if I thought it was funny, other people would too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though there are humorous elements to Vega\u2019s lyrics, much of Queen of Pentacles<\/i> was inspired by more serious reflections. \u201cAll of it has to do with the spiritual side of life,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m getting older, so more people I know are passing on. A natural part of getting older is you start to wonder where we\u2019re all going. That\u2019s why I write the songs, because I don\u2019t understand it, but sometimes it helps me to describe or express it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The manner she chooses to express herself changes from album to album. \u201cThe last album was less metaphoric than my other albums,\u201d says Vega, 54. \u201cProbably the most confessional album was Songs in Red and Gray<\/i>. I found that very uncomfortable. This album, I was happy going back to the world of \u201cThe Queen and the Soldier\u201d or \u201cLuka.\u201d That was what felt comfortable to me. But who knows what that means in the future? Each album has its own flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Amanda Farah<\/p>\n