Convict Of Inconsistency
Philip R. Heath | DFW | 06/19/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I loved Sonya Kitchell's last full length CD This Storm (see my review), and I was excited to see this EP from her earlier this year. However after listening to this for a few weeks, it is a very uneven collection of songs. The pinnacle comes early in the form of "Lighthouse". It is a sweet and hopeful song where her vocals lilt along through her upper register. The string opening of the song sets the stage nicely for her best vocal performance on the EP. The piano also ties in nicely with the opener "Convict Of Conviction". However the mood changes quickly with the eerie, electric sounds of "Mr. Suicidal", and the continuity falls apart. Musically this is a good song, but it creates an odd dichotomy following immediately after "Lighthouse". Yet, this EP bottoms out fully on "Snowing". It starts out with 30+ seconds of faint instrumentation followed by vocal delivery that is all over the place. It almost comes off as a very failed attempt at doing Mariah Carey as she goes up and down her vocal range. It just doesn't work for Kitchell though. She recovers to an extent on the closer "Gypsy Eyes". It is more of a folk song. To sum it up, I liked "Lighthouse", "Mr. Suicidal", and "Gypsy Eyes"; "Sinks Like A Stone" and "Convict Of Conviction" are OK, and I didn't care for "Snowing". This is one where I highly recommend finding full length streams of the songs and deciding on individual song downloads vs. buying the entire CD. For me this EP would be better titled Convict of Inconsistency.
Download this: Lighthouse"