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A star is born, and her name is Annie Stela.
The young songstress' debut album Fool isn't without error.
But when it's right, it's so right. She's also one hell of a piano
player and wrote every song on Fool herself. So mark my
words: fame is just around the corner from this lovely young lady.
Fool starts with the radio-friendly "It's You."
Here Stela impresses with her ethereal, Sarah McLaughlin-like
vocal melodies, balanced nicely by an earthy blend of mandolins,
simple piano progressions, and a foot-stomping rhythm section.
Though not Fool's best track, "It's You" is a
pleasant listen nonetheless.
The album immediately takes a different turn with the dreamy
piano jazz of "Keep Me Around." Stela strikes the piano
with the kind of quick-chord aggression that made Fiona Apple's
Extraordinary Machine such a masterpiece. And like Fiona's
orchestrations, Ms. Stela paints the song with child-like mischief,
creating a sound recalling carousel rides and Roald Dahl
books. Lyrically however, "Keep Me Around" stands firm
with a mature, "take it or leave it" wisdom differing
greatly from the trembling ex-lover angst that Fiona does so perfectly.
As Stela sings, "A list of my qualities to look over if you
want, I'm trying to please ya/But if you won't I guess you won't."
And what are those qualities? As she lists, "My smile has
its ups and downs, but I'm generally a laugh/And you can bet I
won't skip town, and leave you with the aftermath." Now that's
the kind of honesty you won't find on match.com. Thus, it's hard
to disagree with the advice Stela confidently gives to her indecisive
crush on the chorus: "Keep me around, keep me around/I'm
good for you."
Another fabulous moment on Fool is the soul-powered "Counting
Backwards." What makes this song so wonderful is its unpredictability.
Stela begins with a lone and heartbroken piano progression, a
mood mirrored by her vocals. She sings, "And the medal goes
to you, my life is falling apart, my life is falling apart."
Love has left her lonely, angry. She's left with only her confusion
and a present dependent on the past for answers she still can't
find, singing "every time I turn around I'm backtracking."
Suddenly, a soulful female choir comes out of nowhere, gracing
Stela's confusion with the kind of "Woh's" that would
make Aretha Franklin proud. Violins and subtle "wah
wah" pedal guitar grooves recalling the Bee Gees awaken
listeners into a world that Stela, regardless of her confusion,
finally has control over. Her vocals win back the confidence empowering
her on earlier tracks. Freeing herself of the self-deprecating
doubt and undeserved blame that the opening verses trapped her
in, she belts out, "Oh just a couple streets away you sleep
through the night/You're all out of things to say/Honey that don't
feel right." And though the subject matter of this song does
not require too much lyrical depth (just a whole lot of attitude),
Stela gets caught up enough in the emotion and poetry of past
memories to pen such winning lines as, "My heart is going
back to the choice I could have made/to the balcony at night and
the blanket of black." It's a tremendous song; you can actually
hear her becoming a star.
"Counting Backwards" is followed by the clever piano-rocker
"Lovesong." Bursting with clever hooks and quick-paced
vocal memories, Stela's opening lines and chorus sing, "This
is the lovesong you'll never hear/just a warm breeze between my
mouth and your ear." It's one of the most infectious lines
I've heard since Gnarls Barkley's Cee-lo asked,
"Does that make me crazy?"
The albums only drawbacks are a couple songs that come too close
to schmaltz. One example is "Over You." The song sounds
pretty enough. But on an album chock full of honest and remarkable
tracks just waiting to be heard, lines like "I'll get over
you/I just need a night, a night to get over you" just do
not measure up. Similar disappointments are heard on "Past
Due." Here, she sings "It's warm with his skin against
my arm/and I can close my eyes against the ways I did you harm."
Though a better song, it is similar to "Over You" in
that its lyrics do not bear the weight of the song's emotions.
It's all fine and good to write about "longing" and
the simple desire just to touch someone who's no longer there.
A history of Top 40 hits proves this. But what sets Annie Stela's
songwriting above mainstream mediocrity, and at the same time
gives her the "gusto" necessary to "make it big,"
is when her performance, lyrics, and emotional content do not
overpower each other. And it's been quite some time since I've
come across a female singer better able to juxtapose her humanity
and her confidence.
An example is the confessional title track. With vocals embodying
the best of Alanis Morrisette, she sings, "I'm sure
that I am brave and smart/with pleasant smile and open heart/but
that doesn't guarantee that I can pick it up all on my own/and
prove it through my telephone shouting, 'I'm a big girl look at
me.' " As this song shows, Annie is at her best when her
failures and virtues are unabashedly sung about it in the same
breath. Her worst (and rarest) moments occur when her uniqueness
as a songwriter, and as a person, fall silent under the burden
of "timeless emotions."
Luckily, the majority of Fool shows the artist's best
side. For what it's worth, I think she'll go far. I hope she does.
And in saying that, I'd like to close by citing in its entirety
the album's best track, "Breathe Through." Doing so
is typically a big "no-no" in the world of music journalism.
Regardless, this song beautifully reveals why Annie Stela just
may be the next Sarah McLaughlin. Or better yet, the next Carol
King.
"Breathe Through"
Can I pull this from the air?
Do I have the strength to fight?
Or will I hold my tongue till it passes
through the warm and balmy night
And a mother sets the table
cleans the dishes with her hands
Passed down through the poking and the prodding
and the "don't let this get in the way of your plans"
Chorus:
Oh when it hits me, all I can do
is just breathe again and breathe through (2X)
Can I hope for something more?
Can I hope for something real?
Standing tall in the backyard praying to my trees
for something to feel.
And I hear him pulling up,
I hear the door slamming.
The slow whistle of his cigarette
and all I want is to peel the paint,
the paint from his skin
Chorus
Bridge:
And I can't let it go, can't let it go.
This is the last time I'll feel it there
I can't let it go because I know
even if I shut my blinds he's still out there.
Still out there
Chorus:
Oh when it hits me, all I can do
is just breathe again and breathe through (2X)
and breathe through and forget the me and the you.
-Justin Stover
Track Listing:
1. Its' You
2. Keep Me Around
3. Fool
4. Over You
5. Counting Backwards
6. Lovesong
7. Believable
8. Past Due
9. I'm Around
10. Breathe Through
11. Pull Back
12. Carry it All
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