cletta1201's Full Review: Learning From Falling by Lamya
Clive Davis is legendary in music terms. He’s pretty much responsible for the meteoric rise of piano phenom Alicia Keys and you might remember a singer who’s career he helped launch by the name of Whitney Houston. That being said, Clive Davis is a man who’s opinions regarding music I generally can put faith in. Having established his own company called J Records (after being ousted from Arista), the lineup at J was looking sweeter and sweeter by the day. Home to Keys, Angie Stone and others – J Records has an incredible roster which has been questioned with newcomer Lamya’s debut album ”Learning From Falling”.
- Track Listing -
1. Empires
2. East Of Anywhere
3. Black Mona Lisa
4. Never Enough [Belli’s Ballad]
5. Judas Kiss
6. Full Frontal Fridays
7. I Get Cravings
8. Splitting Atoms
9. Never’s Such A Long Time
10. The Woman Who
11. Perfect Girl
12. Pink Moon
13. Black Mona Lisa [single mix]
The first thing you notice about Lamya [pronounced lamb-ya] is that she’s got striking features. Born in Omen but raised in Kenya, she’s capable of singing 5 octaves and has sang backup for the likes of Duran Duran, David Bowie and James Brown. My feeling is that Learning From Falling could have and should have been so much more. Vocally, Lamya has been compared to Kate Bush as well as Bjork and I could see some of the similarities but I really think she sounds like a higher pitched Macy Gray [although with a bit more refinement] and a bit of R&B singer Mya. Se has a classically trained voice and is able to wow you – but the cd lacks any real cohesion, which works against her sound in a major way.
”Empires” kicks off the musical odyssey which is one of the best songs the disc musters up. It’s a great showcasing of Lamya’s vocals and range as well as her poetry [She wrote our co-wrote all but one of the albums 12 tracks]. Having written such a large portion of the album is a bit of a double-edged sword. There are times when you’re thinking what the hell is she talking about?
I understand completely that interpreting someone’s poetry can be difficult [think Tori Amos], but here it comes off as pretentious and a tad bit cheesy. It’s not that the lyrics don’t make sense, it’s that the groupings tend to be awkward.
”Black Mona Lisa” is a strong track that was an excellent choice as a single. Its production is a bit trip-hop in that dark, mysterious way and her vocals are completely on par. Equally pleasing is ”Splitting Atoms” which is where the title of the album comes from [in the chorus]. Undoubtedly, this will be the second single because it’s very auspicious. Behind the bass line are some elements of Indian music and it has a strong chorus that gets stuck in your mind. The last really good song on Learning From Falling is a remake of Nick Drake’s song ”Pink Moon”. Drake is “… an obscure singer-songwriter from Britain who had 3 critically acclaimed albums but small sales”*. Most notably the song was featured in a VW commercial from about 2 years back* and was a good choice for Lamya.
- Final Thoughts -
What kills Learning From Falling is that by the end of the album, you’re really just ready for it to be over. Her voice is so unique that you get agitated about midway through the album and it ruins everything. She’s got talent that’s undeniable, but I’m not sure there’s a real place for her to be successful or if consumers will embrace her sound. I’d listen to this album again, but only with the songs I don’t like programmed out and never for longer than about 15 minutes.
*Thanks to thevoid99 for that music trivia, I knew I’d heard the song before but he placed it for me and gave me the background.
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