New Music from 3/1/2011 - Eisley, INXS, and Marsha Ambrosius

Eisley The Valley - The indie-pop band from Texas currently consisting entirely of members from the DuPree clan (three sisters, one brother and a cousin) release their first album in four years and third album overall.  Their last album, Combinations, debuted in the Billboard Top 100 and reached as high as #70 in the U.S.  The new disc is their first album release since they left the Warner Bros. record label and signed with Equal Vision Records. 

The first song is the eponymous "The Valley" which starts with subtle violin work and Stacy DuPree's silky, alt-sounding vocals before layering on the drums, guitars and backup vocals to create an enchanting, orchestral opening track. (This version of "The Valley" is better and more intricately mixed than the version first heard on the band's EP release, Fire Kite)  "Smarter" is a more serious breakup song assigning blame on narcissism and lack of intelligence.  "Kind" is a really stripped down song with just piano and violin backing, forgoing the normal instruments like drums and bass you would expect to find in a typical pop song, to create a song with a soothing lullaby-esque quality. 

The Valley is an entertaining album that I enjoyed a good deal.  It's a better album than Combinations is with more complex songs and better production work.  The tracks where Stacey DuPree works the keyboard instead of the guitar have more depth and are some of the better songs on the album ("Oxygen Mask" and "Kind").  Not every track is worth dwelling on but the good definitely outweighs the bad.  The decision to leave the Warner music group for a more indie friendly label seems to be the right one--let's just hope it doesn't take them another four years to release their next full album. 

Score: 8/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "The Valley" and "Kind" [sample it below]

Marsha Ambrosius Late Nights & Early Mornings - Former member of the British R&B duo Floetry, Marsha "The Songstress" Ambrosius releases her debut solo album.  Floetry had two pretty well known singles, their 2003 hit "Say Yes" and their 2005 hit "Supastar (ft. Common)," both of which ranked high in the U.S. and U.K. R&B charts.  This album is getting released by Sony Music's subdivision J Records who also handles some other currently hot R&B artists like Leona Lewis, D'Angelo, and Jamie Foxx.

A short 90-second intro opens the album where Ambrosius showcases her singing skills with some jazzy piano and classical bass backing.  "With You" follows with a Soul heavy track with lots of vocal runs that add a more dramatic feel to the song.  The song that it would be a crime for me not to mention it is the awesomely titled, "Hope She Cheats on You (With a Basketball Player)."  Fortunately, it's actually a pretty decent track with a more upbeat tempo and lyrics about loss and revenge that adeptly straddles the line between cool/funny and ridiculous once you get past the early Kardashian reference.  "Sour Times" is an amazing Soul-influenced cover of the 1994 Portishead hit of the same name that is an immediate attention grabber that I instantly fell in love with. 

Late Nights & Early Mornings is an impressive solo debut album.  Although Ambrosius obviously incorporates some of the things she learned while in Floetry, there is magic that shines through on a handful of tracks over the 13-song album ("Far Away" is another impressive ditty).  And the tracks that aren't as magical still generally exhibit enough solid R&B/Soul influence to not seem boring.  You can see why J Records signed Ambrosius as her style compliments well with the style of music of the artists mentioned above and she can definitely hold her own in the vocals department.  A couple of the songs did seem to blend together though on repeated listens so this album's score did get docked a tiny amount for that. 

Score:  7/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Hope She Cheats on You (With a Basketball Player)" [sample it below] and "Sour Times"

INXS Original Sin - (Note: This album was released last week but I couldn't get a copy in time to review for last week's post.) Iconic 80's/90's band INXS has "re-imagined" some of their past hits with the help of a ton of guest artists, most of which provide vocals in place of the late former frontman Michael Hutchence (1977-1997).  Some of the more famous contributors on this album are Ben Harper, Rob Thomas, Tricky, and Nikka Costa.  Although a good number of their early hits are covered on this 12-track disc (plus a bonus song depending on where you order it from), there are a couple of well-known songs that are notably missing like "Suicide Blonde" and "Devil Inside."

Strangely enough the album opens with the only new song, "Drum Opera," which is an acoustic track consisting mostly of a heavy drum beat and synthesizers.  From there, a couple of the tracks sound nearly identical to the original versions with usually only the guests' vocals providing any real differentiation ("Meditate (ft. Tricky)" and "Beautiful Girl (ft. Pat Monahan)").  One song, "Original Sin (ft. Rob Thomas & DJ Yaleidas)," has been sped up with a euro-dance beat but it's an enjoyable reworking.  Most of the other songs have a slowed down tempo that either skew towards a Blues-y feel ("Just Keep Waling (ft. Dan Sultan)" and "New Sensation (ft. Deborah de Corral)") or towards a more Adult Contemporary feel ("Kick (ft. Nikka Costa)" and "Don't Change (ft. Andrew Farris & Kirk Pengilly)") with mixed results.

Overall, there are a few tracks that are credible and interesting re-imaginings of the originals but most of the versions will have you pining for the original albums.  In addition, there are a number of questionable song choices ("The Stairs" from 1991's album X and "To Look at You" from 1983's Shabooh Shoobah--two singles that never even charted in the U.S. or U.K.) especially since the band has a number of hits that aren't re-imagined like the two songs mentioned in the opening paragraph.  The album has a certain kitsch value to it but will leave you hungry for the versions you probably owned on cassette or vinyl. 

Score:  4/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "Original Sin" [sample it below] and "Don't Change"