Artist: Terami Hirsch

CD: All Girl Band

Style: Songwriter

Quote: “Hirsch opens her soul with the drama and mystery of Kate Bush and the bluntness and honesty of Fiona Apple and Tori Amos.”

I wrote an entire play in my head listening to Terami Hirsch’s “All Girl Band” CD. From the opening notes, I was pulled into a cerebral theater. This is powerful. Hirsch opens her soul with the drama and mystery of Kate Bush and the bluntness and honesty of Fiona Apple and Tori Amos.

She gets right down to business in the opening song, talking through an introduction called “Setting the Record Straight.” Imagine shaking hands with a new acquaintance at a dinner party, saying “How do you do” and hearing back: “I starved myself from 1989 until 1992. I weighed 82 pounds. I check out girls. People think I’m sweet. God, I hate that.” You would be either put off immediately or drawn right in.

The music is simple. Sometimes it dances, like in the modern court jester’s song “Girl With the Brain.” Sometimes it’s slow, sensual, and gorgeous, like in the seductive “Make it Visual.” Through it all, Hirsch tells her stories. Sometimes she has the voice of a little girl who has seen too much. In the next moment, she’s a cynical woman. The music may sound playful sometimes, but her voice is never completely innocent.

Her voice is at its charismatic best in “Witches’ Brew” when she starts off crooning, “I have a really good bad feeling...” The voice is mischievous, then taunting, mocking images of princesses and mermaids, all the time singing of that good bad feeling.

She’s not polite. Her stories get ugly. But she’s beautiful through it all.

I dare you to find a quiet place to listen and play this CD. Terami Hirsch will read your thoughts. Somewhere in this CD, she will sing something that startles you because you recognize it in yourself.

Artist’s Web Site: www.terami.com