There's something about Aileen Paron that goes a little beyond the socially acceptable and very much appreciated realm of singer/songwriter, artist/composer, musician/producer. You see, the girl can sing like there's no tomorrow exclusively for lyrics that tend to be electrifyingly inventive and socially interactive. I get the feeling that there's a lot of care and thought in her lines and for everything in between. Aileen Paron's debut CD features some remarkably brilliant songwriting folks.. songs that reflect lots of things she's come across and perhaps lots of little something's we all have in common.
Killer Bees opens the album with it's bright and shiny Carole King styled piano intro (re: Tapestry) until that point arrives where we are all swept off our feet with Aileen's bright and incredibly dynamic vocal. I can't help but visualize something a little more superior to the likes of Tori Amos, something approaching the genius of Kate Bush, and something a little reflective of Fiona Apple. The thing is.. Aileen Paron has little trickles of these artists, I am sure, in her musical influences closet but the song is still, very much, an Aileen Paron composition that's every bit as beautiful and ingenious as perhaps these influences are capable of providing us with.
Persephone takes the entire compositional blueprint we thought we had established in Killer Bees and turns it all on it's head. This has to be one of the most brilliant songs and vocals I have heard come out of a female American mouth in many many years. The production is incredible... the arrangement is the stuff of dynamite personal insights and perceptions and the musicianship is extremely tight, skilled, and synchronized. If you're reading this out of curiosity without having heard the album first... be 'backward, no more and get yourself a copy NOW!
Skyscrapers is the song that made me realize why this girl was nominated for Best Female Solo Artist, and Best Female Vocal in the 2007 International Online Music Awards! Aileen's voice has diversity, richness, beauty and all the other things that go into heart, soul, and spirit candy. Again... the arrangements are spectacularly embroidered and intricately conceived and then delivered to the world via the very capable hands of superb musicians!
Sleeping Dogs is the one that I played through headphones after first listening through speakers. I really like what Aileen Paron does with her vocals for her lyrics... she takes specific words and expresses and emphasizes their meaning in a way that you'd normally expect from seasoned multi album selling major artists. Harmonies are exceptional and when you try to get really objective about the piano playing.. you end up helplessly inspired beyond reason. great playing for a great voice in a great song Aileen!
Am I Getting Through? has one of the most original organ/piano intro meanderings I've heard in a long time. It's nice to see keys from different parts of the sky working so closely together. Equally enlightening is the vocal styled employed to do the honours for the lyrics which again shows strength in expression and versatility in range. She's a damn fine singer is this Seattle residing Aileen girl!
Tidal takes the candle flames between the fingertips and shortens their luminescence as the mood becomes a little more introspective without becoming the slightest bit grating upon the spirits. Actually... that reminds me of something else about Aileen Paron... you'll notice that for each song on the album, there's an entirely different virtual personality and body language being presented as though each song has a unique lifetime of it's own! It takes a very gifted songwriter to be able to manage that on a debut album folks and I guess that's what makes Aileen Paron a true breath of fresh air in a landscape that for too long has been systematically polluted!
Western arrives complete with rim shot and whispy-to-sharp vocals that pull at your attentiveness regardless of distractions. I've just been informed that our dryer's motor has probably burned out, that the -30 degrees wind chill has wrecked our door hinges and that the wooden joists are creaking! Listening to Western makes it all a problem for the landlord and not for me personally... it's the music you see... sometimes... just sometimes... it gets so good that nothing in the nearby reality can pull you away!
As Long As Grass Grows just happens to be, sadly, the last track on this 8-track collection of wonderment and in a slightly cruel sense.. this has got to be one of the best songs on the album... the one that makes you wish so much that there was more! Aileen composes at the piano and what a performance it must surely be to witness composer and compositional instrument separated at first but destined to become one and the same! What a brilliant song with it's woven keyboard and vocal work shadowed by some beautifully rendered cello work! Yep... brilliant in every conceivable way my dears!
It's been such a huge buzz reviewing this album in as much as it must have been a huge buzz to work on. Aileen... you should be walking on air when you hear people's responses to your first album and for those of you who haven't Pay Pal'd your own copy yet... I'd say you need to get that sorted as soon as possible!
Now where's that beedin' landlord's number!
