Alpher & Litt: Songs for Sapiosexuals

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Alpher & Litt

Songs for Sapiosexuals
January 31, 2020
Reviewed by John Hoglund

When it comes to novelty songs, listeners usually prefer eccentricity in small doses. Some are jokey; some are just silly fun; with some palindromes; and others are biographical. The key is to keep them sharp with a comic bite that makes them memorable.

The husband-and-wife team of Jennie Litt and David Alpher have produced a second album, Songs for Sapiosexuals, with 18 songs about just about any old thing from sugary love to wacky romance. In doing so, they’ve also elevated novelty songs to a new level. You don’t need a PhD to understand such ditties, but a reasonable IQ will help, given that the songs are often tricky and might call for some concentration. The tunes are clever and erudite with an eye-winking comic flair that is, at times, infectious. As with their 2014 album, the song titles say it all about their whimsical take on the absurdities of life and its foibles. For instance, the title tags “The Tipsy Grape,” “The Voyage of the Manatee,” or “A Nineteenth Century Death” indicate a wry imagination, which they deliver with ease. He’s the composer and lyricist and she’s the singer who is also a lyricist. Together, they suggest a contemporary musical mash-up of Elaine May and Mike Nichols. This is obvious on the CD’s opener, “Swingin’ on a Gate,” a bouncy little ditty about the joys of simply swinging on a gate in the summertime. On “A Prime Little Number,” sung to a tango beat with their typical non-sequiturs, the words and music are more defined with some added romantic fodder, but they’re still silly: “I’ll admit I’m a square but you’re prime/not one little fraction, you’ll get all my action.” This formula invests most of their songs because it works for them.

So, if you have a taste for the off-beat lyric with a bright melody, this disc is for you. They are all sung with Jennie Litt’s expressive and bright voice that lands with ease on every note. It all makes for a terrific listening experience on an album filled with special-material gems that can appeal to any young cabaret singer who’s putting together an act that needs the right comic touch to offset the more serious moments. This material is fresh, funny, and filled with truths that linger. It is also thought-provoking. On “If I Were” you hear a wistfulness that complements the cuter lyrics, making for a unique song that stands out: “If I were the air, I’d ruffle your hair, and whistle and sigh when you walked by/If I were a goat, I’d nibble your coat, and unravel your glove to show my love/I’m just a song about love lifelong, I can only sing; it’s the only thing.”Such fusions of thoughts are ingenious and reflect the album as a whole.

This is a serious team of sophisticates worthy of wider attention. Their intelligence overflows throughout the lyrics of every song on a remarkable album of songs that are, according to them, all about love. They feature whiskey-soaked torch songs, death marches, math tangos, a new holiday ditty, and much more. It makes up what they have coined the sapiosexual – a person turned on by intelligence. The term is as razor sharp as they are. Ultimately, it doesn’t get much better in an age when mindless mediocrity passes for music on the airwaves and the net. Songs for Sapiosexuals brings hope for better songs ahead albeit intimate cabaret, Comedy Central, or Broadway. However, it isn’t just about clever irony.
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A gorgeous ballad called “The Things That Make Us Sing” wraps it all up in serene beauty: “Sometimes the juices of life overflow, And set the music going/the universal soul made sound in the key of you, in the key of me, and the circle goes round and round/these are the things that make us sing.”

The musical team consists of David Alpher (piano), David Winograd (electric bass, acoustic bass and tuba), Tani Tabbal (drums), Dale DeMarco (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Suzanne Gilchrest (flute), Kurt Henry (electric guitar, acoustic guitar), Tim Ouimette (trumpet), and Eli Winograd (additional percussion).

John Hoglund

For over 30 years, John Hoglund has been a respected entertainment writer covering cabaret, jazz, theater and recordings. His writings have appeared in numerous outlets including the Bistro Bits column for Back Stage. John moderated seminars and forums for the International Cabaret Conference At Yale. He produced many celebrity fundraisers in NYC including one of the first benefits after 9/11: “HeartSong:The Heroes' Concert” at The Bottom Line featuring 36 major stars. He co-produced “HeartSong2: The Heroes' Concert” for Katrina victims at Symphony Space and “Miracle On 35th Street” with a star-studded lineup. Other fund raising efforts include the first benefits for Broadway Cares and God's Love, We Deliver. John served on the Board of Directors of MAC for 12 years. He is well known for championing new and rising talents.