Sarah McLachlan
Surfacing
1996, Nettwerk/Arista
piano pop
½
Surfacing was Sarah McLachlan’s fourth album, but it still stands as her most popular album to date. This was the one that earned her her Grammy’s, but in comparison to her previous albums, Surfacing falls short.
Rachael Yamagata
Elephants… Teeth Sinking Into Heart
2008, Warner Bros.
pop, acoustic, blues rock
In an interesting turn of events, Rachael Yamagata’s sophomore album is split into two distinctive style and records. The first, Elephants, is similar to her debut Happenstance in that it is filled with dark, moody ballads, while the second, Teeth Sinking Into Heart, has a harder rock sound and a faster tempo. Yamagata’s gritty contralto of course shines poignantly in Elephants, but the true surprise is that her voice is actually better suited to the harder Teeth.
Genre: folk rock
Rating:
“Again Today,” “Josephine,” “Losing Heart,” and “The Story.”
myspace, last.fm
Catherine Feeny’s Hurricane Glass, Amy Macdonald’s This is the Life
I found myself moved not only by her mastery of her vocal talent, but by the underlying hint that she doesn’t take herself as seriously as most female singer/songwriters do…
awaitstheday
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