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Reviews: Nicole Russo ~ Self-Titled
Posted on Saturday, July 01, 2006 @ 06:18:09 PDT
Topic: Reviews
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Artist: Nicole Russo
CD: Self-Titled
Home: Boston, Massachusetts
Style: Singer/Songwriter
Quote: "I didn’t expect the dense layers of guitar, the anthem-like chord changes or the highly professional sense of song structure. There is an identifiable Nicole Russo sound, and it involves these elements as well as bedrock conviction."
By Barney Quick
If I had one bit of advice for Nicole Russo, it would be to toot her own horn more forthrightly. Between the promotional copy prepared by the admittedly top-notch promoter Jerry Lembo and her own reflections on her artistic progress, there’s a tone of understatement, as if her team didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag before the listener heard the music. When you do hear the music, your reaction is along the lines of “I had no idea!”
She’s presented as a singer/songwriter typical of the genre. The usual influences are cited, as are her decisions about her singing and which instrument to focus on. (And that’s a bit curious; her bio says she pretty much switched from piano to guitar, and her photographs depict her as a guitarist. However, on her new album she’s the pianist and the guitar parts are handled by Brian Fechino.) By the time one is a few bars into any of the songs on this self-titled outing, however, it’s clear she’s blazing her own trail and doing so in a superbly musical way.
Apparently she’s an east-coaster. (That’s another thing about the promo-kit copy and the liner notes; I could use more detail. Where is this Briggs Brothers Studio?) Two of the musicians on the record, Fechino and drummer Chris Williams, are from the Virginia-based Pat McGee Band. Her bio does say she’s been living in Boston for a while. She relates this self-effacing little story about singing with the house band on a cruise ship as a kid and later giving up an unsatisfying day job (apparently in New York) and meeting “many wonderful musicians” who got her “on the path she’s on now.”
Well, it’s quite a path. I didn’t expect the dense layers of guitar, the anthem-like chord changes or the highly professional sense of song structure. There is an identifiable Nicole Russo sound, and it involves these elements as well as bedrock conviction.
The ethereal harmonies that introduce the first cut, “Difficult” led me to think perhaps I was in for a dreamy auditory experience for the duration of the song, but it’s a sixteen-bar state of suspension that swirls and coalesces into a fiery expression of indignation at an arrogant former lover. The memorable chord changes get going right away, during the first verse, and the refrain pours out full throttle in grand big-rock tradition.
On “No Warning,” Russo demonstrates a mastery of overdubbing her own vocal harmonies. She also employs the genuine passion in her voice to create a readily identifiable lick during the refrain. It’s another of those touches that make this music unmistakably Russo’s own.
“This Time” starts with an intriguingly engineered percussion figure, like someone banging on shoeboxes in a closet. This quickly segues into a masterful slide guitar line by Fechino. Russo’s spare piano chords provide an effective aural foundation for the many guitar parts layered over it.
“Move On” features more great Russo self-harmonies. She’s strong and clear on both vocal tracks, sounding as if she means it in both the tonic and the third. On this song, her sense of how to build from a simple beginning to an exquisitely wrought emotional and aural statement is demonstrated to fine effect.
She’s finally let loose to set the musical table on piano on “Brand New.” It’s a nice respite from the fretboard-heavy arrangements that come before. To be sure, there are lots of tasty Brian Fechino slide guitar figures as the tune gets going (as well as those wonderful overdubbed vocals).
Thematically, Russo’s in young-woman-learning-to-be-strong-in-the-complex-world-of-modern-relationships territory. In this, she is working the same turf as many others in her bag, but she does it without once either hardening into bitterness nor getting goopy. The overall orientation is one of an insistence on decency and honesty from a man, no matter whether a union is going to bear long-lasting fruit or not.
After I got through all the cuts on the record and then looked back through her promotional materials, I had my conclusions about this tone of modesty driven home even more. There may have been a time when Nicole Russo tentatively walked onstage at open-mic nights and workshops, hoping someone would resonate with what she was offering musically, but that was clearly a while ago. She is now supremely ready to maneuver in the world of mature artists. Any fans of anybody she cites as an influence would readily go for what she’s putting on disc.
http://www.nicolerusso.net
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