On Dolphin 2016
Layers
Peel slowly and see the pulse of life in a new singer’s personal universe.
For Melissa Lyn, this band’s voice and heart, “Layers” is a document of a painful breakup and joyous hope but, unlike many other SanFran artists, she doesn’t wear it all on her sleeve preferring instead to tone all those emotions down. That’s why the singer’s debut longplay reveals Lyn’s feelings unhurriedly, although it’s not the twangy title track that’s the key to Melissa’s bark skin keep; it’s the scintillating “Inventing Fences” that finds her opening up and embracing new possibilities.
The depth of such a journey should me measured from the upbeat opener “More Good Days” to the ruminative turmoil of “Slowdown” which bares an aching spirit underneath the group’s glazed veneer, while the cello-spiced “Dance In The Kitchen” is where the most blissful moments, and vocal splinters, hang in the air in a charmingly chamber way. Yet if “New York” marries elegiac paean to cold rejection, “Worth The Drive” has a whiff of vaudeville to it, adding a sultry angle to the chanteuse’s persona before the piano-propelled “Let A Little Light” wraps the soulfulness into a prayer – another layer of what is an impressive first step towards spotlight.
***2/3
