Sonya Kitchell Strikes Agains
This post was written by Benjiposted in Uncategorized |
We last heard of Sonya Kitchell way back in ‘06 when she was just a 16-year-old crafting a hell of a debut Words Come Back to Me. Fast forward two and a half years and Kitchell is out with an even more impressive followup The Storm. Indeed, the album is aptly titled, with Kitchell channeling more charged, jazz-folk-pop melodies that showcase her incredible vocal talents. In listening to Kitchell, I’m still amazed by the candor, the sincerity, and the wisdom in her lyrics–it juse baffles me how someone so young can put together something so coherent and beautiful.
In her own soft rasp, Kitchell exudes confidence on The Storm. Whereas she seemed more hesitant to pull out the stops on her debut, Kitchell seems less restrained and bridled. Perhaps the greatest difference here is the amount of instrumentation on The Storm–most notably, there is more of it. Like the sun’s parabolic path through the sky, the songs on The Storm have more of an arcing beauty to them than the linear dimension on Words Come Back to Me. The opening track “For Every Drop” starts out like Sea and Cake sound with its brushy rhythms and breezy tones, but then opens up into a grand piano, guitar and bass-driven ditty. There’s plenty of crescendo here, something that gets delightfully relayed to the listener. The bells and slow-rolling bass of the folkier “Here to There” is balanced excellently by the comical tenor sax and distorted harmonica. “Fire” is a fast-burning bluesy track that smolders red hot from the intensity of Kitchell’s penetrating vocals, and will have you seeing “Fire / Fire” along with her. But Kitchell also showcases her penchant for slow ballads as well, with the debut-like delicacy of “Robin in the Snow” and the Emiliana Torrini-esque “Soldier’s Lament”. The Storm, in essence, is Kitchell’s bridge from one stage to the next–or to reinvoke the sun metaphor, it’s her transition from one day to the next. The Storm’s sun has set. Now Kitchell faces the challenge that every sun has to face: what do you do when you dip below the horizon? It’ll be great to see what she does next….
Get a copy of The Storm.
Listen to “For Every Drop”
Listen to “Here to There“
