sound the sirens review

[TurnOnTheStars]

http://www.soundthesirens.com/reviews/vanessacarlton-harmonium.php

Vanessa Carlton
Harmonium
(A&M)

The girl everyone pegged as a Michelle Branch wannabe has taken her own route to success, rising to popularity by way of piano and vocal melody. Vanessa Carlton’s second, more mature album, Harmonium, follows the radio-ridden singles from Be Not Nobody and reflects on the period after making her way down town. That is to say, this second album is more reminiscent and poignant than her first pop-littered entrance.

The distinctive single from Harmonium is “White Houses,” and from how Vanessa Carlton is cast in the music business, listeners may be content with the continuity in style of her first album. However, keep listening and it’s soon apparent that there are deeper and more meaningful undertones within the words underneath the infectious melodies. Clearly, this album is much more produced and it shows. Of course her trademark piano is center stage, but there are also a slew of other instruments adding breadth and an intensity to the overall tone of each song.

There are the overly pop-ish songs; “White Houses” and “Private Radio,” but the rest of the tracks make it pretty clear that she’s branching away from the conventional formula for popularity in the mainstream music scene. I think that there will be a newfound appreciation for the honesty and sincerity in each line of every song. The mood goes from summer to autumn in the span of her career but ever so eloquently and discreetly, much like how kids grow up so fast that their parents don’t notice until they’re getting married and starting families of their own.

Harmonium is catchy but only to a certain extent. It’s something that each time you listen to it, you notice something more, something different. Melody has always been Carlton’s forte but now she incorporates a personal touch in each song. They read like an obscure journal of a girl who can only translate her thoughts through poetry surrounding repetitive proclamations of her wants and feelings. It’s mysterious, it’s engrossing, maybe a little naughty, but it keeps you interested.

Reviewed by
Sable Yong
November 5th, 2004

[amberbeads]

Who pegged her as a Branch "wannabe"?
If she was a Branch wannabe she'd play the guitar. :roll:

[party]

Nice review, BUT:

I'll bet a fortune that ol' Sable Yong NEVER listened to "Be Not Nobody". Really.

This review is full of cliche's about Vanessa's pop hits, and portrays her first album as shallow. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Heck, this "glowing" review, and it's description of how the tunes "read like an obscure journal of a girl who can only translate her thoughts through poetry" could easily be a review of her first CD, you would only have to change the titles of the songs and the album.

Sable has made the same mistake and has done the same disservice to Vanessa that many people have: they've cast Vanessa in the light of her radio hits, and sadly missed the depth of her album(s).

A truly PHONY review we have here. I grant that Sable may have listened to "Harmonium", and maybe more than once. But it's her portrayal of "Be Not Nobody" that is completely faked, or at least it has completely missed the point. She has made the same assumptions about it that many have, and incorporated that nonsense into her review. She should have listened to it instead of writing such a standard "formula" review of Vanessa's work.

Sable Yong: "You are fired" :twisted: