by Bambi Weavil
Official MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/shannoncurtismusic
There are few artists out there that I would want to risk my personal funds on, but if there was one that I would invest in, it would be Shannon Curtis. If the amount of times I’ve listened to her six-song album is any indication, she’s going to be someone I’m going to personally be talking about for a long time to come. She has completely charmed me into 100% endorsement. This is the contemporary pop/jazz artist I’ve been waiting for since Norah Jones and Vanessa Carlton.
Shannon has tender honesty in her voice, especially when accompanied by her piano, that is heartbreaking, inspiring and rare. I’ve not been able to avoid comparing her to Karen Carpenter, and I can hear the similarity in talent in “Waking Up With You.” With other comparisons to Fiona Apple and Norah Jones, Curtis also reminds me of indy talent Kyler England, in her songwriting style and performing confidence. The one thing I love about Curtis is there is nothing fabricated about her music, there is no vibe that she is out to simply be signed and on radio making hit records, though she’s a artist everyone in America should hear. Curtis seems sincerely interested in being a recording artist, with the key word being artist.
“Boomerangs & Seesaws,” a sweet relationship retrospective that demonstrates that with a good voice and simply piano instrumental accompaniment, can bring the jazz-pop quality back to it’s greatest elements. The first song to pitch to radio should be “Wasted,” with lyrics: “You are my weakness / Please tell me your secret / And save me a fortune in tears / Cause I can’t get enough, you see
/ Like some kind of junkie / Whose drug all too quickly disappears / Along with three damn years / Oh, I’m empty handed here” this is Curtis’ “money” song. There’s the balance of learning from your mistakes without desperation yet understanding the comfort and dependency of having that all-consuming feeling of having such strong chemistry with someone else, written so well with “Wasted.”
“Rainy Day Lover” could easily be a pop hit and reminds me of something that Toby Lightman could have taken on with a interesting interpretation. “Before The Sun” is destined to be a great pop hit on a future movie soundtrack, the perfect song about before the day goes any further…to treasure the person you’re with. “Before we remember how to be afraid” is one of the strongest lyrics from Curtis and really sums up what everyone struggles with in a growing relationship.
The album closes with “Waking Up With You” and really, I think anyone would be lucky to wake up next to Curtis. Beautiful, extremely talented without trying, this is the one to watch and this is the one everyone should hear. Please purchase her music through ITunes, CDBaby or Amie Street, which is how she came to my attention.
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