Mor Lam Sa On 12

Jintara Poonlarp

*****

Jintara has spent the last three years steadily sliding into mediocrity. Mor Lam Sa On 12 is no dramatic return to form, but there are enough flashes of her talent here to give some hope for future releases.

The first track, Hello tor pit, is a tremendously catchy anthem, which combines the driving force of Nok's Siang jaak sao Lao with soaring choruses to make your spine melt. The VCD version is let down by astonishingly poor video quality, which looks like it was shot on someone's mobile phone; the videos for the other up-tempo songs are shot on the same set and suffer from the same problem.

From that we sink to the lowest depths of Jintara's career with Chailai, about which nothing more need be said. Sanya ti na dun and Yaak hai wao yawk are by-the-numbers Sao Warin-style numbers, of interest only to insomniacs. Wawn lom faak rak has a bit more about it, the pared-down instrumentals allowing Jintara's expressive singing to dominate the track. It also has a nicely shot and suitably low-key video. Track 6 is also pretty good: it's stylish fun rather than deeply-felt singing, but none the worse for that. Faen khrai law jang has a sweet little story and a driving force to it which makes it the most dramatic song on the album. This is also the first track with anything like a lam break: a rather sad state of affairs in what is nominally a mor lam album. Track 8, Pubao tuen sai, is the only real mor lam number on the disc, and shines by comparison with most of the other songs here.

Next comes a contrasting trio of slow tung numbers. The first and third plod along with little to grab the listener's interest, though the frisky guitar parts are engaging. The second, Plian si plian jai, shows how this genre can be made interesting: the guitar is back, if slightly mellower, but in addition we get long, well-defined melodic lines which give the song a better shape, plus punctuation from the alliterative wordplay in the lyrics. The last track, Sao Chaiyaphum glum rak is pleasant froth, but nothing more, making it a fitting conclusion to a so-so album.

Track listing

Track number	Song title (Thai)	Song title (Romanised)
1	ฮัลโหลโทรผิด	Hello tor pit
2	ไฉไล	Chailai
3	สัญญาที่นาดูน	Sanya ti na dun
4	อยากให้เว้าหยอก	Yaak hai wao yawk
5	วอนลมฝากรัก	Wawn lom faak rak
6	มีคนโสดบ่	Mi khon sot baw
7	แฟนใครหล่อจัง	Faen khrai law jang
8	ผู้บ่าวตื่นสาย	Pubao tuen sai
9	ข่าวร้ายปลายปี	Khao rai plai pi
10	เปลี่ยนสีเปลี่ยนใจ	Plian si plian jai
11	เสียงแคนแฟนเก่า	Siang khaen faen gao
12	สาวชัยภูมิกลุ้มรัก	Sao Chaiyaphum glum rak

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