Search - Chrisette Michele :: Epiphany [Deluxe Edition][CD/DVD]

A New Chrisette Michelle

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 05/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps it amounts up to a musical prejiduce but when a song on any album says something like "featuring Ne-Yo" my caution lights go on.It's because I am expecting another product of the "United States Of Genericia" syndrome that effects most hip-hop influenced R&B artists recording today and that they seem all too obligated to embrace. A handful of artists ranging from Alicia Keys,John Legend,Raaphael Saadiq and even Imani Coppolla with her Little Jackie project seem to really be able to work credibly in both worlds.Lucky for us we can count the talented adolescent Chrisette Michele as one of them!Her debut album I Am(which I really need to hear fully) was a more sudtle jazzy effort. This one is actually quite a bit different obviously. Ne-Yo helps out as producer and his contribution is really helpful because he manages to add hip-hop to Chrisette's jazzy touches without destroying her special qualities for the sake of a quick ego trip. And that is a big key to making decent music in this day and age. The title song begins the album off with a great note;the music and the harmonic exchanges are just beautiful,one of the few songs musically AND lyrically remind me of Stevie Wonder. Especially considering it's coming from someone in the age group he was during his best period. This is a bit of a "breakup" album and not a new concept by any means. What makes this so wonderful is how sincere the whole thing sounds. There's huge handfuls of heartbreak soul ballad type tunes here,all fueled by Chrisettes piano work as well such as "Notebook","Fragile","Blame It On Me" and the ear catching closer "I'm Okay" but where she picks up the tempo on other songs such as "All I Ever Think About","Playin' Our Song" a "Mr.Right" really bring out the same genuine sense of emotional release as that wonderful title song.Chrisette's lyrics and her ability to deliver them with total chutzpa and feeling."What You Do" features Neo as a backup singer and is one of the best uptempo songs on the album,funky with a mild early hip-hop flavor and some wonderfully jazzy chord progressions:it reminds me of the musical innovations on that Aaliyah album eight years ago and makes it clear Chrisette is carrying some torch from that here,even though in this case the singing has that oddly mature pathos for someone so young."On My Own" is another great personally derived song about emotional detachment from her father....apparently and is set to a rather dramatic uptempo rhythm. My other favorite song in this is the jazziest;"Porcelain Doll" is also on the theme of independance but it doesn't sound as if it's about her dad. So basically what you have here is a set of songs where the modern day,bass heavy beats and keyboards are used in a very warm and/or personelly inviting.Either way the basic songs aren't based around a bunch of producers tricks;it's the excellent drumming of Chuck Harmony and the bass/guitar grooving of Cal Palmer and Jesse Bond that really bring out the best in the song's musically. And the best part is I really don't know who they are as musicians lol so it kind of makes it all better. Now I am reviewing the CD/DVD version because that's the one I picked up and it was because I heard the DVD featured Chrisette reciting jazzy love poetry over piano accompaniment.You get five minutes of just that which is pretty cool,and I love her whispery style. But that isn't the best part.You also have an 18 min interview where Chrisette discusses her musical relationship with Ne-Yo and Chuck Harmony as well as some of the personal motivations for doing an album like this when so many already exist,and her answers might surprise you. There's also a a video for the excellent title track.I won't ruin it for you but it's very cinematic and New York based. This album is more then worth it by itself and is definately a classic in the making;Chrisette by the way does a fairly good job of defining the term "musical classic" in her terms on the DVD. But that DVD is more then a plus for picking up this version of the album;it really does a lot to enhance the whole musical experience."