Imagine that releasing a CD from a new artist is a bit like a recipe where you aren't sure of the proportions of each ingredient that you need. You know that the following ingredients are necessary: good music (good sounding instruments), good lyrics (as artists mature, they may choose to write their own lyrics), and good vocals, but each project involves experimenting with the proportions of each of these ingredients. With her debut release, Live For You, Rachael Lampa had music that was okay but sounded like many pop albums recorded at the time. The lyrics were all written for her and were adequate, but it was the vocals that highlighted her amazing range and strength. Therefore, those making the CD recipe had proportionally more vocals compared to the rest of the ingredients in the recipe.
With Kaleidoscope some risks were taken with the instruments, but the lyrics didn't improve greatly, and the vocal recipe was about on the same level. Proportionally more of the instrumental ingredients were added to the recipe. The self-titled new release, her third major CD (not including the remix album, Blur), features Lampa co-writing all of the songs, making it her most personal release yet. The instruments are also strong, but the weakness is with her voice--not in quality, but in quantity. The recipe of this project includes proportionally more lyrical ingredients, but some of the vocal ingredients are taken away. While her voice is more nuanced this time around, it is never given a chance to shine. There is not really a song that boasts the strength of her voice with its amazing range. The listener may feel like she is holding back, which is good at times, but other times those who love Rachael wish that she would just let loose and wail.
The first track, which is over six minutes long, feels like an appetizer at a fancy dinner. It is just enough to whet the appetite of the listener regarding what the rest of the CD will feature. Unfortunately, the last two minutes of the song become repetitive and may tempt listeners to skip the entire song. The disc suffers from weak lyrics in "Outrageous," as one repeated part consists of the deep lyrics, "uh uh uh uh uh uh uh," as well as "Being Alive," featuring the repetitive lyric, "love love love love love love love." The project also seems to lose gas with the last three songs that just don't have that same spark of the rest of the project.
Listeners will see a great deal of growth with Ms. Lampa with this CD but will find themselves hoping that the next project continues the growth that has been seen and yet allows her to highlight her amazing voice, which is one of her best strengths.
3 tocks
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