Review: Gemma Ray - Lights Out Zoltar!

Gemma Ray - Lights Out Zoltar!
2009, Bronzerat Records

Gemma Ray is a sensation in her native England, writing dark and emotive songs in styles that range from Americana to 1950's and 1960's pop. If you find musical embodiment to Quentin Tarrantino's psyche it might just be a Gemma Ray album. Comparisons have included Lee Hazelwood, Nina Simone, Isobel Campbell and Norah Jones on Amy Winehouse's drugs, but it's clear that Gemma Ray has struck a chord so vital in UK fans that she's become something of a phenomenon. Ray's US debut, Lights Out Zoltar! drops on October 26, 2009, and has few peers stylistically. Fans of Canadian singer/songwriter Sarah Slean will be highly intrigued, and the comparisons to Tori Amos, Milla Jovovich and Bjork will be made, but Gemma Ray is no one if she's not herself.

Traditional instrumentation isn't an issue for Ray, who uses whatever sounds right to her irrespective of whether it's conventional. The opening track, 100 mph (in 2nd gear) is beaten out on a hollow body guitar with a kitchen knife while a toy piano tinkles in the background. Ethereal backing vocals and a gothic European cabaret pathos fills out the sonic landscape in support of Ray's entrancing vocal. Snuck A Peak sounds a bit like a Fiona Apple song played at the wrong speed on a phonograph. The surreal effects applied here make the song sound like it's in dimensional limbo with Ray's voice acting as the focus point. The song is beautiful in bleak fashion. 1952 takes an almost Surf sound and turns it into music noir with lyrics in both English and French. Death Roll is one of the more unusual tracks on the disc. Death Roll sounds like French Cabaret in a mad house; highly entertaining yet disturbing all at once.

No Water is an allegory for being caught in the emotional wastelands that we all find ourselves in from time to time. Considering the darkness of the subject matter, the chorus is bright and full of warm vocal harmonies. Ray eschews the gothic feel that pervades the album for gentle pop that runs entirely counter to the neurosis it envelopes. If You Want To Rock N Roll is bleak with depressive overtones and kind of gets stuck in itself, but Ray returns strong with Something Shifted, returning to the Americana style she started out with. The song represents a coming-to-terms with change even if it never really defines what's changed. Ray closes out with So Do I, a return to Carol King-style songwriting with a melody you could hear a group like the Chiffons Doo-Dooing along to.

Gemma Ray is unique and interesting as a songwriter, opting for an almost Madrigal Rock built on a wide range of traditional and toy instruments, all wrapped around the highly textured and beautiful voice she possesses. Lights Out Zoltar! is a dynamic Cabaret/Lounge trip you don't want to miss.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Gemma Ray at www.myspace.com/gemmaraymusic. Lights Out, Zoltar! will be released in the US on October 26, 2009. If you can’t wait, the UK release will drop on September 7, 2009. You can purchase a copy of UK release of Lights Out Zoltar! At BronzeRat.com. Digital copies will be available through BronzeRat on the date of release.

Review: Greg Dember - I Don't Know I Think I Fell From The Sky

Greg Dember - I Don't Know I Think I Fell From The Sky
2008, Hieronymus Records

Greg Dember is a Seattle-based singer/songwriter with a slightly different perspective on the world. This comes across in his quirky songwriting style. Dember has been a part of numerous Seattle projects over time, including Chiefly, Lavish Cat and Tim And The Time Machines. Performing solo under the name Greg Dember allows the artist to bring to take the stage on his own or with the help of a large group of musical friends as the night or venue might suggest. Dember’s album, I Don’t Know I Think I Fell From The Sky is quirky, original and a little out of step, perhaps, with current mores in music, but may carry a distinctive charm for certain discriminating music fans.

I Don't Know I Think I Fell From The Sky is a musically interesting but lyrically lackluster effort. Dember ranges from Ben Folds style Rock ballads to fully orchestrated and vaguely morose chill-fests in song. The dynamic range of the recording never varies too significantly, meaning I Don't Know I Think I Fell From The Sky has a tendency to sound a bit homogenous at times. Lyrically, Dember is out there, writing in a mix of biographical and allegorical terms that becomes so enmeshed it becomes difficult to sort the reality from dreams. The album opens with Parachute, with the narrator caught up in the euphoria of new love. The song is quite interesting although it does get a bit stuck in the chorus. Boxes approaches a stream-of-consciousness songwriting style that is very quirky. The narrator here is in love with someone who is moving; he just hopes she doesn't move too far. Transportation takes on a Ben Folds approach in a dreamy song more or less about love. Dember doesn't have the spark or chutzpah of Folds and the song gets overly flacid at times. Imaginary Friend is an odd tune. Dember seems to count Quentin Tarrantino and Uma Thurman in this category. From here things just seem to drift, with Dember occasionally finding the ground but generally floating through songs about dashed expectations, unrequited love and all sort of naval-gazing topics.

After listening to I Don't Know I Think I Fell From The Sky, I have the distinct impression it could be the soundtrack to the life of the kid in school that everyone thinks is weird. There is a social disconnection that runs through the songs that is at times charming and at times bordering on creepy. Dember captures this persona in song as if he's lived it. From that perspective the album borders on genius, although the music, in general, just isn't really compelling. It’s a decent listen, but not one that will inspire you to come back again and again.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Greg Dember at www.myspace.com/gregorydember. You can purchase I Don’t Know I Think I Fell From The Sky as a CD or download from CDBaby.