Casey Desmond is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who brilliantly balances rocking pop/folk melodies & harmonies, thought provoking lyrics, with everything from the edgiest guitars, soulful pianos, deeply haunting rock or acoustic instrumentation & a 4 octave multi dimensional vocal range. That's not me speaking by the way, that's courtesy of her EPK but I thought it only fair to introduce her in some form.
I might have suggested, prior to having listened to the album, Casey Desmond is a an attempt to cross-pollinate the appeal of Avril Lavigne and Amy Lee in one appealing package. Yet despite the cynicism that one always attaches to a new artist of a certain ilk, you can't deny that the girl has talent.
For a start, she can actually sing. Take the song Julia Butterfly Hill; at times we're in danger of almost trespassing into, say, Katherine Jenkins territory and Desmond's wonderful voice transforms the songs into something really rather special. And its a trick that repeats over the album. At times the weaker songs are still saved to some degree by her voice and the better songs are lifted to an even higher plain.
Despite its attempts to sometimes paint itself as something of a higher calling, this is an out and out pop record and anyone who has a sly, or not so sly, liking for the aforementioned likes of Avril Lavigne and Amy Lee will find plenty to enjoy here. That's not to say that others won't, just that, whether through artist choice or record company maneuverings, the target audience for this is pretty clear. And to be honest, as much as I liked Lavigne's lastest offering, I think I like this even more.
I might have suggested, prior to having listened to the album, Casey Desmond is a an attempt to cross-pollinate the appeal of Avril Lavigne and Amy Lee in one appealing package. Yet despite the cynicism that one always attaches to a new artist of a certain ilk, you can't deny that the girl has talent.
For a start, she can actually sing. Take the song Julia Butterfly Hill; at times we're in danger of almost trespassing into, say, Katherine Jenkins territory and Desmond's wonderful voice transforms the songs into something really rather special. And its a trick that repeats over the album. At times the weaker songs are still saved to some degree by her voice and the better songs are lifted to an even higher plain.
Despite its attempts to sometimes paint itself as something of a higher calling, this is an out and out pop record and anyone who has a sly, or not so sly, liking for the aforementioned likes of Avril Lavigne and Amy Lee will find plenty to enjoy here. That's not to say that others won't, just that, whether through artist choice or record company maneuverings, the target audience for this is pretty clear. And to be honest, as much as I liked Lavigne's lastest offering, I think I like this even more.
