Astonishing music and breathtaking lyrics, surmounted by April's voice... I hadn't really heard music until I heard 'Becoming'. Like soaking in a warm bath, but aware that menace lurks close by. Her music and lyrics are deeply moving of themselves but, coupled with April's haunting voice, the result is a crescendo of enjoyment.
how blessed we are to have the committed spirit and angelic voice of April McLean on the earth!
The first time I listened through this disc, I literally laughed and cried over the pain and hope April is expressing in her art. It connected at a soul level that most music fails to do anymore. Like reading my own diary. Inspirational and real, with some seriously spanky tracks. I can't wait for the next one. ;)
It's only occasionally that I find a c.d. that hooks me. Aprils voice is mesmerizing. Her lyrics are so clear...so close to home in meaning. I can't think of one song, on this albumn, that hasn't touched my soul. It's one of the few albumns that I'll listen to non-stop and learn every word..to every song. Motivating...Inspiring...Comforting...Empowering. Just what I've needed! Thanks, April.
This CD is one of the best I have purchased in the past year. While April McLean reminds me of some of my other favorite artists (Jonatha Brooke and Shawn Colvin, specifically), she has her own style and I hope she is recognized for her enormous talent immediately! She deserves to be widely known. Her music is GORGEOUS. I also await the next CD breathlessly!
April McLean shrugged off the stifling restraints of the Christian music industry to fly solo, with divine results. Becoming is a starkly beautiful, panoramic portrait of the artist's heart and psyche. With her spare vocals, poetic lyrics and light, uncluttered arrangements, McLean avoids the depressing tenor and maudlin sentiment a less capable singer-songwriter might inject into such emotionally revealing material, particularly the standout title track, a paean to healing and atonement. Soul-mining never sounded so good.
Relative newcomer to the Nashville music scene April McLean, a Berklee College of Music alumna, celebrates the release of her eclectic and promising new disc Becoming, filled with Tori Amos and Aimee Mann influences, at 9 p.m. at 12th and Porter, 114 12th Ave. S. Motor opens. For more information call 254-7236.
April McLean - This local singer-songwriter moved here from Boston a few years back to work on her craft, and her efforts have borne fruit. She's got a publishing deal with the Los Angeles branch of Warner Bros., she's had songs recorded by other artists, and she's had her own recording of her song "Superhero" featured on the TV show Felicity. The tune kicks off Becoming , McLean's debut album of sinewy confessional pop, which the artist will be celebrating with a CD release party at 12th & Porter.
There's a strong Aimee Mann influence on singer-songwriter April McLean's debut CD, Becoming. Both artists combine a sweet voice with catchy pop melodies, but McLean's verses are so intensely personal, emotional and vulnerable that to simply compare her to another artist would discredit her unique message.
The Berklee School of Music grad delves deep within her soul, confronting issues with an honesty that will cause some to squirm and others to heal. On the lush, string-enhanced ballad "Open Your Heart", for example, McLean softly sings, "Hide behind all your fear/Close the blinds and disappear/Keep your sins locked away/If they knew, what would they say?"
The poetic lyricist digs through the wreckage of a verbally abusive relationship on both the dark pop-rock tune "So Far Away" and the melancholy ballad "The Way You Make Me Feel". Low moments such as these help us better appreciate the uplifting nature of "All Along" and "Superhero", a sunny, hook-laden tune that was featured on a recent episode of the WB teen drama Felicity.
McLean obviously put her whole heart into her debut disc, and, in doing so, created an empowering body of work that gives us an example of the capable singer-songwriter she is, and the talented solo artist she's "Becoming."
The Berklee School of Music grad delves deep within her soul, confronting issues with an honesty that will cause some to squirm and others to heal. On the lush, string-enhanced ballad "Open Your Heart", for example, McLean softly sings, "Hide behind all your fear/Close the blinds and disappear/Keep your sins locked away/If they knew, what would they say?"
The poetic lyricist digs through the wreckage of a verbally abusive relationship on both the dark pop-rock tune "So Far Away" and the melancholy ballad "The Way You Make Me Feel". Low moments such as these help us better appreciate the uplifting nature of "All Along" and "Superhero", a sunny, hook-laden tune that was featured on a recent episode of the WB teen drama Felicity.
McLean obviously put her whole heart into her debut disc, and, in doing so, created an empowering body of work that gives us an example of the capable singer-songwriter she is, and the talented solo artist she's "Becoming."
