Summerland

Nedelle and Thom – Summerland – Kill Rock Stars

Really a showcase of Nedelle’s voice more than anything else. Fortunately she has a strong one and mixes up the pop with jazz with soul. The album still gets a bit monotonous by the end, though. Lyrics invariably deal with heartsickness of one form or another.

1,5,11 cover her spectrum and give a good range of strong songs.
FCC: “shit” on 7

1. * (2:43) Jumps right in with strong, female vocals w/ very light supporting vocals. Upbeat, but lovesick. Slow section at 1:25 and end.
2. (2:35) Light song. Upbeat, fast drums do most of the work. Vocals at 2:16 – sadder, more pining. 12s fade.
3. (3:07) Starts w/ guitar and drums giving an early rock feel. Lapses into slower feel, no more rockin’.
4. (2:20) Upbeat song. Melancholy but hopeful lyrics. Short guitar intro. Pretty vocals w/ occasionally prevalent background singing.
5. * (3:00) Sadder, more emotive, soulful song. Starts w/ “la-la” vocals harmonies, main vocals soon thereafter. Female background singers. Shows wider vocal range. Fade at 8s, silence by 6. “You did me wrong” song
6. (2:40) Slow start, gets more upbeat – “Missing you/can’t go on” song
7. (2:15) FCC: shit Guitar intro with a funk sound. Duet vocal. Nedelle sings deeper – not the same melodic sound she gets on other tracks. Duet works at times, but sounds off at others.
8. * (2:02) Cool bass line and drums for intro. Interesting guitar work. Very solid vocals – pretty and emotive. Bittersweet – “love him but days went too fast” fade at 9s, silence by 6s.
9. (2:03) Pretty, slow, sad. Immediate vocals. Simple, straightforward instrumentation. “Gave what I could” to a man. Silence at 7s.
10. (3:35) More of a pop feel, upbeat. (Beatles’ “Getting Better at the beginning”). Song is longer than it has to be – gets repetitive. Lyrics seem clever and weak at the same time – end of the world love song (?)
11. (2:56) Slow acoustic duet. Guitar intro with (as the name suggests) a lullaby feel. Contains titular “summerland” lyric. “Born to die/going to a better place” sweet but sad love song. Silence relatively abruptly with 16s left – watch ending!