There are times when you miss the polished professionalism that the big bad music industry brought to recorded music. Well, with her fifth full length album “Never Wanna Grow Up”, Katrina Stone gives us something that sounds like it has had time and money spent on it.
Brimming with Los Angeles style poise and confidence, she rolls through these ten songs like a seasoned professional who knows just what the people want to hear. Take “Sugar” as an example. The song is nearly twee and, dare I say it, probably engineered to be quirky but her candy coated good humour powers this song all the way through to the finish. With adaptability clearly one of her assets, Ms. Stone then takes the mainstream big ballad “Bombs Away” and plays it like she has been sitting at the table all her life just waiting for this song to come along.
That understanding of what counts as radio friendly these days helps her take “Little White House” further down the road to airwave domination. It’s song writing maturity at work and it is a pleasure to hear. “Siren”, again demonstrating that adaptability, seems something of a parody of the urban r ‘n’ b style, perhaps possessed by the unconscious desire to be Jennifer Lopez, but, instead of a robotic backbeat, complexity is instead layered in. The arrangement, as always and forever, is the key and, as with all the songs here, the effort has been made to make everything sound appealing to the ears.
“Never Wanna Grow Up” is undoubtedly a slick album – no bad thing in my book – and, if your thing involves properly performed songs then Katrina Stone will soon become your lady of choice.
The album is available for download from Noisetrade.