New and classic voices shine on new CDs

By Larry Nichols
PGN Staff Writer
© 2008 Philadelphia Gay News

Kerli
Love Is Dead
Island Records

This record really should be a hot mess, but it isn’t.

Most artists trying to combine the sonic adventurousness of Bjork, the “Jagged Little Pill” attitude and the gothic overtones of Evanescence could easily screw it up on some level. But somehow, Kerli avoids the pitfalls of total predictability and makes it work.

Hailing from Estonia (do you know where to find that on the map?), the singer’s debut album obviously draws from a wide and varied pool of inspiration. The result is a surprisingly entertaining and slick patchwork of pop, rock, R&B and electronica that will make you pine for the days when artists like Garbage, The Cardigans, Republica and Poe dominated DJ playlists.

The musical flourishes of restrained and synthesized bells, bleeps and strings lend a pleasantly atmospheric quality to the album. They are as much a credit as Kerli’s voice itself.

Kerli has a versatile-enough sound that allows her to assume whatever persona any of the songs require. Is she the sexy but spooky girl on the fantastically melancholy songs like “Walking On Air” or “Bulletproof”? Is she the sassy provocateur on the catchy, bratty tracks like “Creepshow” and “Strange Boy”? Or is she a Euro-pop superstar-in-waiting on futuristic pop numbers like “Hurt Me” and “The Creationist”?

Time will tell whether she develops a more distinctive voice, but in the meantime, “Love is Dead” is a solid start.

Ferron
Boulder
Short Story Records

Legendary Canadian folk singer Ferron teamed up with local singer/songwriter Bitch for her new album. Bitch handled production and also rallied a number of artists, ranging from Ani DiFranco and AMy Ray of the Indigo Girls to round out the songs. Their talents combine to do a superb job of letting Ferron do her thing, which is deliver a classic-sounding folk record.

The music, for the most part, consists of acoustic guitar with minimal strings and percussion augmenting the background, creating the perfect backdrop for Ferron’s poetic and sometimes confessional lyrics on songs like “Already Gone,” “The Cart” and “Shadows on a Dime.”

Bitch gets a little adventurous with the production on a few track with varying degrees of success. The Native American rhythms of “Misty Mountain” complement Ferron’s vocals so perfectly that you get the feeling she could probably make it rain if she commanded it. By contrast, the synthetic melodies and beats on “In The Meantime” sound rather forced and inauthentic. But that is the only flaw on this carefully crafted collection of songs.

Nicole Reynolds
Unordinary Mine
Independent

Nicole Reynolds’ new album is every bit the traditional folk record as “Boulder” but, in style and feel, they couldn’t be any more different from each other.

The local singer/songwriter’s fluid guitar playing continues to be a driving force throughout the CD, but her melodic voice is a strength too: At times, it blends into the music so much that the two act almost as equals in songs like “The River,” “Revolution” and “Like a Movie.” There’s also an element of playfulness to some of Reynolds’ lyrics that adds to the overall lighter spirit of this CD on songs like “Whiskey” and “We Could Have Met.”

Southern influences also creep into the music at a few points on the record, which give songs like “Don’t Put A Tax on the Beautiful Girls” a New Orleans-style kick, and other songs like “Railroad” and “Fire” an urgency worthy of a standing ovation at the Grand Ole Opry.

Both CDs are excellent in their own right, but where “Boulder” is a deeply lush and melancholy affair, “Unordinary Mine” edges it out as a more satisfying and brilliant listen with its potent, shorter and relatively more upbeat songs.

Larry Nichols can be reached at larry@epgn.com.