Think back a minute, if you would. Back to your adolescence - those wonderful, confusing, pubescent days of acne, angst, and agitation, back when you were 15 or 16. Remember? What were up to? In what were you expending your energy. Well, if you were anything like I was (and I suspect a fair number of you were) then you were up to a whole lot of nothing.

Not so for Miss Sonya Kitchell.

In 2006, then a 16 year old, aspiring singer/songwriter, Kitchell released her debut album Words Came Back To Me to much acclaim. Despite her youth, she garnered the attention of accomplished musicians like Joni Mitchell and famous Jazz figure Herbie Hancock, as well as a formidable influx of positive press.

Since then, Kitchell, whose first album was a collection of mostly acoustic folk songs, has performed with Hancock on several occasions, including at the 2006 Sonoma Jazz Festival and in support of his record River: The Joni Letters, which included a number of performances alongside Mitchell. Those experiences clearly influenced Kitchell as she set out to record her new album, This Storm, which was recorded with, and produced by Grammy winner Malcolm Burn (Daniel Lanois, Emmylou Harris) and is due out September 2nd through Decca/Universal and Velour Music Group.

As far as encores go, this one deserves a standing ovation.

Miss Kitchell has evolved even more into a mature and beautifully expressive songwriter and on This Storm she enters new and more profound territory. Her lyrics are definitively folksy in their form, and have been compared to the lines of veteran songwriters like Norah Jones and yes, even Kitchell’s self-proclaimed idol, Mitchell. I think she also compares favorably with the likes of Sandra McCracken, Sixpence None the Richer at times, and Over the Rhine. Yet, her words are absolutely her own: both lovely and challenging, they help paint an intimate portrait of a young woman with deep passions and a deep love of life, but also a young woman who, with wisdom beyond her years, understands not just that life is full of trials and struggles, but also what consequences those trials and struggles can bring, that this life is a storm with waves and rain and thunder, but also followed by blinding, golden sunlight and rainbows wrapped across the sky like ribbons. Indeed, Miss Kitchell seems not content simply to linger in the worlds of youth and angst - worlds she has already explored - but to take her knowledge of those worlds and travel somewhere new; to tell a new story of that new place. She is an altogether different kind of young musician than we commonly see.

With the help of the multi-talented Hancock and Burn, a visionary in his own right, Kitchell has turned her lovely and challenging lyrics into pop songs with considerable punch and folk songs with a wispy, airy sound and the slightest touch of melancholy.

But above all, what makes Kitchell a marvelous revelation and a more than worthwhile listen is her strong, dynamic voice. Like Over the Rhine’s Kerin Berquist, Jones, and certainly like Mitchell herself, Kitchell’s voice is at once haunting and sultry as well as forceful and powerful. At times she sings as if she is walking the foggy, early morning streets of New Orleans, perhaps following a late night performance in a Jazz joint. At other times, she sounds like she is singing a lullaby to the moon on a clear mountain night in the Appalachians. Yet still, Kitchell could be perfect for the larger concert hall; in other words, she can really belt it out. And she will certainly never be constrained to a genre or a type.

This Storm begins with two K.T. Tunstall like pop songs, “Every Drop” and “Borderline,” which set the tone for the album and effectively announce that Miss Kitchell is here to stay and here to keep your feet a-tappin’. “Running” is a gorgeous, jazzy, OTR-like tune that assures listeners that she is no longer 16; it is, more or less, about growing up. “Here to There” is a folksy foot tapper as well and one of the album’s best tracks. “Walk Away,” “Robin in the Snow,” and “So Lonely” are the most beautiful and sultry songs on the album. I could go on and on. Certainly, the haunting ballad “Soldier’s Lament” and the title track “This Storm” are excellent as well. This album is truly without a forgettable song.

At times, it seems that Sonya Kitchell belongs in a bygone era. Like say, the 1950’s. Or the 1970’s. Or… well, you get the idea. Yet, This Storm, is also decidedly modern. And that is one of her great strengths; she is not easily categorized. This is not “genre music.” This is good music. Nay, even great music. And at times, timeless music. So grab a copy when it hits stores, pop it in, close your eyes and be prepared for a wonderful experience - the kind that keeps you coming back to the art form for more.

Sonya Kitchell: \"For Every Drop\"

Artist: Sonya Kitchell
Album: This Storm
Release Date: 09.02.08
Our Rating: 8.5

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Album Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.