Wednesday 8 December 2010

Holly Brook, Diane Birch, Sara Bareilles and Sharon Van Etten

Where do they all come from? Four more female singer songwriters, but this time all very different. Holly Brook sings soft gentle but intelligent songs and her piano accompaniment is well to the fore. Her soothing debut album "Like Blood Like Honey" promises good things to come. It was vastly expensive on Amazon, but very little second hand on eBay.

Diane Birch's first album "Bible Belt" is somewhat of a departure for me. Her music is gospel inspired soul, but highly accessible and totally brilliant. Her two tracks performed on "Later with Jools Holland" have been posted on YouTube. Thank you who did that. And her piano playing is terrific.

Another piano playing singer, Sara Bareilles writes songs that are beginning to grow on me. They are slightly jazzy, bluesy soul. Some of her ballads are quite something. Looking forward to the next time I listen to "Little Voice".

Of all four albums, the one I was looking forward to most was "epic" by Sharon Van Etten. A short seven track album, I was initially disappointed. The music is acoustic guitar based, edgy and grungy folk. But five of the songs, third time round, have an exciting sound. And she is from Brooklyn. This is her second album, and I can't quite decide whether to buy her first.

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