Chiara Berardelli – Seamonster
CD / DL
Out Now
7 / 10
Glasgow-based musician releases her new album.
The influence and backdrop to Seamonster is a sad one. The former Doctor who returned to her first
love of music always dreamt of becoming a Mother. Sadly, she has yet to have children and her heartache
is confronted on this new collection. A short album of ten songs is a genuinely
pleasant listen with the subject matter sometimes shrouded within a thin veil
of pain.
Opener, Free Floating Love is gorgeous, a feeling of drifting
in space (a theme that repeats several times on Seamonster) whilst being
encapsulated within a sparkling diamond.
It acts as a prelude to the album, a beautiful shimmering invitation to
give this album your full attention.
Road is a mid-paced track which introduces percussion and
electric guitar as Berardelli, for one of the few occasions on the album, gives
greater depth and emotion to her voice.
That in itself becomes a slight issue, as lovely as her voice is she often
performs as a gentle single tone almost throughout. She is clearly capable of lifting her voice
as Road confirms and a little diversity would maybe help.
The album picks up pace thereafter with Road and the title
track Seamonster is a clever folk-pop affair that would quite easily pick-up
some good mainstream radio play. She
could, without problem, become the darling of many an easy listening station
and one feels that that is only a matter of time before it happens.
Chiara is talented, make no mistake of that and her songwriting
is impressive to say the least. Accomplished
in classical piano and an enthusiast of the days when the music charts felt as
though they meant something, she knows a tune when she hears one. Another Planet continues the theme of the
universe and Days too contains a feeling of wide expanse and spaciousness.
Deep Space Hibernation, influenced by the journey of the
Rosetta space probe which in 2011 entered a two year hibernation as all systems
were shut down, is an expansive track, full of emotion and cinematic quality
which is repeated by Sanctuary as the
album reaches a close.
Seamonster isn’t ground-breaking by any means but, it is a
delightful listen. Plenty of melody and
accomplished wordplay from an artist who could break at any given moment. The Best Is Yet To Come almost echoes the
opening of the album and maybe the title hints at the future for Chiara
Berardelli. The NHS’s loss is music’s
gain.
No comments:
Post a Comment