Anouschka – My Kind Of Heartbreak (Anoushka Pearlman).
Swedish born Anouschka Pearlman had a globetrotting childhood that took her to England, Germany, Thailand and the United States and this has given her a broad outlook on her music. She has fronted one of Sweden’s first all-girl groups, graduated from Berklee College of Music and worked as a music teacher with children from the ghetto areas of Boston. After returning to Stockholm from Los Angeles she found it difficult to come to terms with the difference in attitudes and My Kind Of Heartbreak was the result. The album opens with the harmless pop of Rainy Night In Chelsea. Her voice is certainly unique and may take a little getting used to. Venice Beach has a virtually spoken vocal and is a scathing indictment on the fame and fortune lifestyle there -- this is a good song and well sung. Good Girl Gone Wild highlights her lack of vocal range although the song is jazzy, bluesy and has a little country feel in there as well. She is trying to show her experience of trying to fit into small town expectations on this one. Man Like You is another with a blues feel to it and is a story of rampant love. It’s energetic and drummer, James Bradley Jr, comes out with some credit. The vocal lets it down though. She shows that she has the skill to write a good song and this is perhaps where her future lies as House Of My Father shows. The chorus on this tale of distanced family relationships is excellent although some of the lyric content is a bit dodgy. She finds her voice at last on Beautiful But Damned and this earthy blues may well be another indication for future direction.
The eponymous title track is an average piano ballad which has a country tinged emotional vocal and there’s a slight reggae beat going on in Gonna Get Over You. However, she doesn’t really manage to pull the latter off. Buried Alive is night club fare and Is This What Love Feels Like drifts off into the Jazz field. Her voice goes again on the Country tinged My Loyal Heart. Let’s See This Through is poor and, although it does improve slightly at the chorus, it just does not work on so many levels. The closing track, When R U Coming Round? has a 70s sit-com theme tune feel to it and is a lusty tale. As debuts go, there is room for improvement and there is only so far that the low budget excuse will go. The fractured vocals do work sometimes, the songwriting craft is there as are the live performances and if Anouschka gets enough airtime then perhaps she might just carve out a small niche for herself.
http://www.anoushka.net/
David Blue.
Swedish born Anouschka Pearlman had a globetrotting childhood that took her to England, Germany, Thailand and the United States and this has given her a broad outlook on her music. She has fronted one of Sweden’s first all-girl groups, graduated from Berklee College of Music and worked as a music teacher with children from the ghetto areas of Boston. After returning to Stockholm from Los Angeles she found it difficult to come to terms with the difference in attitudes and My Kind Of Heartbreak was the result. The album opens with the harmless pop of Rainy Night In Chelsea. Her voice is certainly unique and may take a little getting used to. Venice Beach has a virtually spoken vocal and is a scathing indictment on the fame and fortune lifestyle there -- this is a good song and well sung. Good Girl Gone Wild highlights her lack of vocal range although the song is jazzy, bluesy and has a little country feel in there as well. She is trying to show her experience of trying to fit into small town expectations on this one. Man Like You is another with a blues feel to it and is a story of rampant love. It’s energetic and drummer, James Bradley Jr, comes out with some credit. The vocal lets it down though. She shows that she has the skill to write a good song and this is perhaps where her future lies as House Of My Father shows. The chorus on this tale of distanced family relationships is excellent although some of the lyric content is a bit dodgy. She finds her voice at last on Beautiful But Damned and this earthy blues may well be another indication for future direction.
The eponymous title track is an average piano ballad which has a country tinged emotional vocal and there’s a slight reggae beat going on in Gonna Get Over You. However, she doesn’t really manage to pull the latter off. Buried Alive is night club fare and Is This What Love Feels Like drifts off into the Jazz field. Her voice goes again on the Country tinged My Loyal Heart. Let’s See This Through is poor and, although it does improve slightly at the chorus, it just does not work on so many levels. The closing track, When R U Coming Round? has a 70s sit-com theme tune feel to it and is a lusty tale. As debuts go, there is room for improvement and there is only so far that the low budget excuse will go. The fractured vocals do work sometimes, the songwriting craft is there as are the live performances and if Anouschka gets enough airtime then perhaps she might just carve out a small niche for herself.
http://www.anoushka.net/
David Blue.
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