Hymns of the 49th Parallel

k.d. lang’s moving performance of ‘Hallelujah’ at the Vancouver Winter Olympics offered a vivid measure of how far her singing had developed since her exuberant appearance at the Calgary Games in 1988. Beginning with A Truly Western Experience, she grew from an unconventional country performer into a singer of extraordinary breadth. With Absolute Torch and Twang she began an important partnership with Ben Mink; on Ingénue, that partnership helped her cross into an intimate and sophisticated adult-pop world.

This 2004 album looks back towards Canada, her birthplace. The forty-ninth parallel in its title refers to the boundary between Canada and the United States. Its songs come from Canadian writers she respects: Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Jane Siberry, Bruce Cockburn and Ron Sexsmith.

Against simple acoustic arrangements without drums, her serene voice seems to settle softly into the listener’s heart. It feels as though you are standing inside the winter landscape on the cover. In her singing, the songs are purified and acquire the radiance of hymns. Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ is no accidental choice, while Mitchell’s ‘A Case of You’ and Sexsmith’s ‘Fallen’ inspire an equally hushed sense of wonder.