Every so often you hear a voice with a sense of intimacy and presence so tangible that it leaves you feeling as though the music is being sung just for you. Add to that a sense of disarmingly honest, personal, and soulful lyrics and you have a rare experience indeed.
Lou Cowell looks at me from the cover of her debut CD. She is shown in black and white looking into the lens as though about to tell you a secret. Well the secret is out. Lou’s CD, I…Um… is the kind of debut album that instantly sets her apart.
This is an extraordinary album full of intimate confessions and heartfelt observations. There are songs of secrets and truths untold. Innermost thoughts expressed, fears, regrets, and sadness exposed. There is also a strength and vulnerability revealed in equal measure.
Within a song or two of I…Um… I felt as though I was reading her diary, prying into her secrets whilst irresistibly turning the pages that make up a life.
It is a life that, through these songs, I feel as though I already know; They are emotionally powerful with devastatingly honest lyrics, all delivered with a voice that will melt your heart. The album captures her at her piano, singing, whispering and breathing into the microphone with an intimacy that creates an atmosphere that glows throughout the room.
There is no pretense to gloss, no sacrificing a song on the altar of how the media, and record buying public, often merchandise pretty young female artists. She is never seduced by the superficial and never allows the song to get lost in any nod towards any perceived trend. The result is that her music is a whole world stronger because of it.
Lou Cowell is an interesting lady who grew up rather chaotically amid an animal sanctuary in England, a life she wrote of in her published book. As well as being a writer, she is also a boxer, and of course a musician. She is still active in animal conservation and her father is a wildlife television presenter.
She first came to the notice of many people, myself included, when her song “A Good Day” was released by France’s ‘Pop Idol’ sensation, Emmanuel Moire. As if to prove there is plenty more where that came from, the petite singer has now released this collection of ten remarkable songs.
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