This is a strange marriage of a seemingly sad girl caught in the prevailing winds of changeable production. I actually like it...for about 5 minutes, but it does wear me down me a bit. Russo sings like the lady from that grunge band L7 (who happens to be an awesome singer FYI) but it`s either not mixed right or her deep voice is too dominat because it creates this spooky, haunting atmosphere - which is cool I guess. And this is only the 1st track!!! There`s a lot of music in there: Bluesy solo, heavy acoustic...I think she’s a little too intense for what this is supposed to be: Listenable and pleasurable. Maybe she’s sad all day??? Cheer up, life’s short!
But Russo is embracing her dark side here and if you hang with it, it might just prove a cure for happiness. It’s not that it’s sad as much as unnecessarily intense - it’s the kind of piece my depressed ex might love; embrace and help with the depression. But I’m generally disillusioned and happy, so there you go - I don’t like sad atmospheric things (I think you know what I mean.) The cover does her no justice whatsoever, but at least it gives a foreshadowing of what’s to come: sadness.
I’m conflicted about it because I respect it, I just think the production needs a re-write. But this record was recorded in 2006 (I’m a very lazy writer) so let’s hope things have happily happened and Russo has cheered a little.
It does have its place and there’s a lot of heart, passion and truth here.
