Anya Singleton, The Other Side
Anya Singleton's first full-length album goes a long way towards fulfilling the promise of her earlier EP, Not Easy To Forget. The jazzy sound of that disc has evolved here into a more up-front soul sound with a bigger beat, epitomized by the insistent opening track, "Don't Tell Me." When I first played on the song it brought to mind the shock to the system I felt when I first heard Dana Glover's "Rain."
The slinky but unsentimental R&B thrum of "Small Disasters" and the airy "Simple" further show the subtle songwriting skills of Singleton and her two co-writers. In "Stop This Train," perhaps the best ballad on the disc, Singleton's phrasing resembles Bonnie Raitt's. By contrast, "Replaceable" is energetically pissed-off and punked-up, while "Nevermore" further establishes Singleton's strong persona: "No more lovin', rich boy, no, nevermore."
In the ruminative "Sandcastles" Singleton modulates her strong, rich voice down a notch, making me wish she'd actually take a few more chances with the fine vocal instrument she's been blessed with; there's a certain sameness to the quality of her vocals through much of the disc. When she opens up her belt in the anthemic closer, "The Other Side," one cheers her on and wants more.
But it's already clear that the indie route has given Singleton's talent some needed time to flower. I hate seeing undeveloped artists like Alicia Keys sprint to superstardom, never getting a chance to develop the way they might have, while taking up space in the public consciousness that more deserving artists ought to have.
Singleton could be one of those more deserving ones. I caught her live recently, singing a few songs with only Ann Klein on guitar backing her up. When she broke out "Don't Tell Me," the audience, which had come to see other performers, snapped right to attention.
Emory Joseph, Fennario: Songs by Jerry Garcia & Robert Hunter
Emory Joseph wants to spread the word of the greatness of the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter songwriting ouevre. It's a worthwhile effort. A gifted singer, Joseph assembled a collection of top musicians and recorded a dozen Garcia-Hunter tunes in five days in a New York City studio. The result should warm the hearts of Grateful Dead fans. Whether Dead-haters will give it a chance is, of course, another question.
Article comments
1 - regina
"I hate seeing undeveloped artists like Alicia Keys sprint to superstardom, never getting a chance to develop the way they might have, while taking up space in the public consciousness that more deserving artists ought to have"
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Read this, only thing I can say, this makes no sense. Completely unfounded comment. Alicia is a classically trained pianist and a valedictoria from a pretigious performance arts school and worked her way up in the difficult New York music scene and wowed the likes of Clive Davis and Quicy Jones to get a major record deal. Your statement is indeed true of many of today's artist but is totally unfounded to describe Alicia keys.
2 - Jon Sobel
It's my personal opinion that Alicia Keys, though talented, burst on the scene as a half-finished artist, and she hasn't wowed me. The fact that she's classically trained and "wowed" old music business men isn't germane.
3 - Lucy
These days we live in a country that rewards mediocrity. We are in an industry that calls Kanye West and John Legends "geniuses". I agree with Jon Sodel that Alicia Keys is the epitome of an artist that shot to the top without being fully developed as an artist. Plus she can't sing in tune.
Anya Singleton on the other hand, is an artist whose music is honest, moving and is extremely talented while paying her dues on the NY music scene.