I've got a thing about the female voice. For reasons no doubt best ignored, the female voice just seems to work for me. It is time therefore for another visit to female singer songwriter territory. Time, in fact, for something a bit more intense than usual with this album from Listen Lisse.
Listen Lisse - she has a real name but why spoil the illusion? - certainly comes across as deeper than your average singer songwriter. With only a minimalistic musical backing to keep her company, she's certainly not trying to hide anything either. She isn't arthouse like, say, Lisa Germano nor is she post punk malevolence like Lonelady but instead she is - for want of a better word - approachable. She reflects on both the light and the shade in her songs and there are always more than a few clouds on the horizon. So for every bit of bouncy pop like "Raise Me", there is a compensating emotional crash dive like "Burning Dust". That one bears comparison with the sand blown charms of Cathy Rivers, by the way. Singer songwriter angst - something of an occupational hazard, I would imagine - does creep to the surface in "Your Lovers" but the rest of the album is mercifully free of it and, come to think of it, the only track that actually stumbles is "Capture".
As albums go, this one is worth a listen especially if you like a bit of emotional intensity and heartfelt shadow boxing.
Available from CD Baby.