Popsternchen der außergewöhnlichen Art!, 9. Juni 2007

Dass Popsternchen immer jünger werden, daran hat man sich ja bereits schon gewöhnt. Aber das dies nun auch im Jazz oder im Segement Singer/Songwriter stattfindet, das ist neu. Sonya Kitchell hat bereits mit 16 Jahren die Songs für ihr Debutalbum aufgenommen und diese ganz alleine geschrieben. Wirklich beeindruckend, welchen Tiefgang Sonya Kitchell in dem Alter schon besitzt. Sie ist auf einer Farm in Northampton USA aufgewachsen. Dort hatte sie wohl viel Zeit über sich und ihre Umwelt nachzudenken. Dabei vermischt sie Elemente des Jazz, Rhythm `n`Blues, Pop, Folk und anderer Roots-Musik. In einem Artikel stand, dass Sonya Kitchells Einstellung ist "Das möchte ich machen und ich werde es tun!" und sie hat es bereits in Amerika getan. Mal sehen, was Sonya Kitchell hier in Deutschland alles tun möchte. Jedenfalls beeindruckt sie mit ihrer dunklen Altstimme und zeichnet sich durch Wärme und eine erstaunliche Reife aus. Ein überragendes Debut hat Sonya Kitchell da hingelegt. Ich gespannt was man in Zukunft von ihr noch hört.

       Great CD, 2. Mai 2007

Dear Sonya,
"Let me go" grabs the listener who is attuned to pop songs from the radio, which I am not, so the main reason, I realize, why it captivates me is your voice and the way you wrap it around the text. Obviously, the hook is strong enough to pull in even my young children, who sing along to it. My boy especially likes the slow change at 2:06. There he always says, "I like this part".

"Train" was my first favorite song from the album. I thought the mood and the audacity with which you sang such precocious lyrics as "...nor do I know where I'm going, so I won't pretend" were brilliant. I had to think of Alanis's "Ironic" in that context, which I loved at the time. And then the song goes on, the train continues down the tracks, the listener goes with you through wind and weather and is hoping he could sit across from you in the dining car like Ethan Hawk and Julie Delpy (in _Before Sunset_ and _Before Sunrise_) during their first meeting.

"Can't get you out of my mind" takes me back to 1988 and Anita Baker. The local radio station played a song from _Rapture_ every morning. It really got me going and stayed with me all day. Your bass-punctuated song soars through the cloudy organ harmonies, the pianistic blurbs and guitar riffs to reach a point where Anita Baker herself would get goose-bumps. This is the song where the instrumentalists in your band seem to say the most and have the most vital interaction with your voice.

"Words came back to me" is brilliant! My mind and heart go somewhere else when the cello and your mellow voice admit to your saying the wrong things most of the time. The metaphor is wonderful - and then the hook comes and takes the listener up for a while before he is placed down gently with "life can be such a give and take". And then there's yet another hook "There are some words I could never do without" which makes me think of which words I couldn't do without.

Again, I think you show wisdom beyond your experience when you see the give and take of life, but I don't want to jump on the "she's so young" bandwagon because that is not important. Your voice again does things to me - not only exhaling and singing the syllables here, but also on the inhaling at the beginning of a phrase. The deep thumping of the drum at the end is something that I hope you come back to on another album!

The "Cold day" is something that I relate to by thinking of a bad day in a relationship, one of those days where you cannot communicate and where time goes on in spite of what you feel is a frost that threatens to freeze the world and stop it from turning. The use of "he" and "she" makes the song universal and helps the listener think of people who have had rough times in relationships; then "Can I hold you in my arms" changes the perspective and speaks to the listener's emotions.

No matter what starts with the quirky term "intervention" which may be on the tip young people's tongues these days - I don't know - but it captures the listener's attention and makes him listen to the lyrics more closely than he might otherwise. The chorus with "no matter what you do, I'll be there for you" is affirming, something that everyone wants to hear! Who doesn't want to know someone who will be there no matter what? The change into the funk/R&B area shows how talented you are and how much musical potential you've got.

The "Simple Melody" is another one that the kids and I have to sing along to. Your voice on "just a simple melody" reaches a stage of velvet perfection that reminds me of the best moments of the best concert singers' recitals I have ever been to. Your lyrics melt into the music (or vice-versa?) with "lately all I want to do" that allow the listener to believe what you are singing without any second-guessing. Who wouldn't want to be the arms you fall into?

"Think of you" starts with an acoustic guitar riff reminiscent of something Joni Mitchell might have recorded in her best years ("Help me"). The bass really comes into its own here. The organ plays a bit tentatively, but the prods it takes into the musical line give the pulse a shape that seems reminiscent of something and at the same time quite original. The change at and repetition of "I would do anything" make this listener appreciate the vulnerability you are showing at that point in the song; the adoration of the person you are singing about and the upbeat rhythm portray a happy relationship that can hardly allow you to feel down and blue, but then that is also part of relationships.

"Fields of gold" is such a beautiful phrase for a song, as are "buttercups and Queen Anne's lace" and "icy cold stream", but of course it is the drawn out "oh, my darling" and then the twelve-string guitar reminding me of America that really take me in. One of the first things I told people about your CD was that each song had a wonderful pop hook, an "Ohrwurm" as they say in German, something that gets in your ear and stays with you all day. The piano, by the way, is decent and effective and beautiful throughout the whole CD. Simply wonderful. The outro with the cymbals and bongos which give the song a second breath is such a nice surprise from a formal perspective that it is also worth mentioning.

"Tinted Glass", with its bare guitar sounding like a bass ukulele and vocal line that has more syllables than Madredeus has strings is such a pleasant barcarolle, the lead acoustic guitar very reminiscent of the Portuguese group and your voice entering new territory in its low range. I get the feeling that you used a different microphone on this one or a different equalizer setting. With the words "take a deep breath" I have to think of the third movement of Gorecki's Third Symphony. If you don't know it, listen to it (all) and check out the breathing strings in the last movement!

The singing on "I'd love you" puts you in the Hall of Fame of vocalists for the color you put into the melody. The brushes the drummer uses add a nice touch to this song. "You are sweet and kind and your spirit glows" is a nice line. Nice piano solo at 2:30! And then you go to town with your improvising, letting the listener of your studio album guess what might be in store for him at a live concert.

Was it "Jerry" that made me think of Nick Drake? Is it the interesting tuning of your guitar or the cello-like accompaniment coming from the double-bass? In any case, it is a beautiful song with quite a poignant story in it, one that is interesting to listen to again and again. "And years have passed on by now" takes the song into a musical dimension that makes the listener press "repeat" for more, more, more of that gorgeous music. The lucky fan who doesn't do that immediately and waits around for the song about your little brother is rewarded with a spoonful of humor that gives him a glance at another facet of your songwriting (reminding me of Christine Lavin) and personality. I was pleased to see in an interview that you really do have a precocious little brother. Did he love that song? The repetition at the end makes me think this may have been a lullaby you sang to him when he was younger.

Thank you for the music, Sonya!

       Traumhafte CD einer Newcomerin, 29. April 2007

Vor einem Jahr erschien dieses aufsehehernerregende Album der damals 16-jährigen Singer/Songwriterin bereits in den USA und ist nun auch bei uns zu haben. Sparsam instrumentierten Folksongs die einem wirklich ans Herz gehen und das ganz ohne pubertären Weltschmerz sondern voller Kraft und einem Empfindungsreichtum von dem man beim besten Willen nicht weiß, wo er in diesem Alter herkommt. Man erkennt die Vorbilder, ohne dass sie kopiert würden. Eine Newcomerin, die sich an Ihrem Erfolg freuen und sich für ihr zweites Album viel Zeit lassen sollte, obwohl wir uns jetzt schon drauf freuen.