Sara Lee: Make It Beautiful

Bassist Sara Lee has been a session player for a bevy of pseudo-stars and superstars, depending on your frame of reference. The veteran of the English punk scene has served alongside artists as diverse as Robyn Hitchcock, The B-52's, Robert Fripp, and Gang Of Four, most recently settling into a groove with Fiona Apple, Indigo Girls, Kristen Hall, and Ani DiFranco. But something must have been missing, because here's her solo debut. Lee has carefully chosen strong collaborators for Make It Beautiful, an album nearly two years in the making. The disc was produced by Peter Scherer (Ambitious Lovers) and features such guests as DiFranco, Hall, Indigo Girls' Emily Saliers, and Gang Of Four's Andy Gill, while various songwriting partners help out with the material. Lee's eclectic background suggests that the album might turn out to be a bit of a mess, but Make It Beautiful is a nicely soulful New Romantic pop project in the Bryan Ferry mold, full of smooth but artfully crafted songs such as "Grace," "Traffic," and "Thin Ice." While Lee's bass work is appropriately accomplished, her singing gives the album most of its depth: She has a low, husky voice, a welcome antidote to the flights of folk fancy that sometimes hamper DiFranco and Indigo Girls. Make It Beautiful is fairly minor no matter how you look at it, but after 20 or so years in service of others' visions, it's nice to see Lee extend her circle of creative prospects one ring further.