Tamira - Anatomy of a Heart

Tamira is another one of Neil's proteges. I listened to the album for a long time before I met her so I have a less biased opinion of the album than I did with Sandra.

The album opens with onverwacht bericht, which google tells me means "unexpected message" in Dutch. The acoustic guitar sounds beautifully warm and Tamira starts singing in Dutch. It's a trance experience listening to someone sing pop in a foreign language. It's a nice enough song, but us xenophobic Brits struggle with anything thats not English. It's a good start to the album and it makes you wonder what's coming next.

Track 2 - I still love you - The vocals move to English and I can relate to them a little more. The vocals are a little fragile. She needs more confidence, but it adds to the mood of lost love in the song. It's good balladey pop.

Track 3 - Forbidden Fruit - With a full band, Tamira's songs start to find their stride. The song continues the theme of past relationships, but a rousing chorus keeps the pop sensibilities on the button.

Track 4 - Black Clouds - The songs are getting better and better, another great chorus is supported by great guitar part which shows some country influences.

Track 5 - High Hopes - This has a much darker feel, and doesn't give the listener the benefit of pace until it gets to the Chorus. The stop-start nature of the song gives you an idea of the frustration of another broken relationship. The song gladly has a good breakdown, which gives the song some well needed structure.

Track 6 - Shut and kiss me - This returns to the acoustic singer songwriter style and has an innocence and Tamira pleads with the object of her affections to just get on with the job.

Track 7 - Danger - In this song Tamira wears her Anouk. Disappointingly Anouk is a female singer from The Netherlands, and not a band named after the dog from The Lost Boys. She is a popular peddler of songs about men who have annoyed her in the past, and this is a song in that vein.

Track 8- You - This is a duet with Kevin O'Donoghue. Tamira tells the object of her desires how pissed off she is. Kevin's singing is wonderful but the song reminds you how young Tamira is, or was when she was writing these songs.

Track 9 - Hi! My name is Randy! - This is one of the stand out track of the album. Tamira takes the reins and tells the a boy that she's taking control. The song has heavy punk influences. The song doesn't overstay it's welcome and finishes with an erratic solo by Neil.

Track 10 - Dad - Tamira's voice sounds very powerful on this track. The song is in two parts, with an electric breakdown in the middle, before it returns to the warmth of just Tamira and her guitar.

Track 11 - I feel whole again - The track is a wonderful way to finish the album, capitulating the main themes. Tamira decides that despite all the emotions she's being laying bare, that she feels whole and every thing is rosy and solved. The song opens with a glockenspiel, giving it an innocence and sleepiness.

Since listening to this album, I have met Tamira. She has come on leaps and bounds since she recorded this, and it stands now as a great record of her first set of songs. There's a real innocence in these songs. She never tries too hard and she just gets on with it. The lyrical content is immature in places, but this adds to the lo-fi feeling of the album. I can't wait for the follow-up because she's a talented girl and I think it will be wonderful.


iTunes link

Amazon link

List to the album on Spotify

Danalyze - Debut

For anyone who has spent any time in the Amsterdam music scene in the last 5 years, Danalyze(Danielle Cornelissen) is a well known face. As with many cities, Amsterdam has an active Singer Songwriter scene. On a good day, this can be a breeding ground for organic musical talent. On a bad day, it's a bunch of bedroom wannabes singing songs about the one that got away.(Listen to my album - I'm chronically guilty of this.)

Danalyze is at home in the Singer/Songwriter mould, but she also gets out a little and mixes with the jam sessions and has enough charisma and stage presence to pull together a bunch of unknown musicians and run through a cover or one of her own songs. Danalyze has a seemingly endless stream of self penned number, but she has chosen 4 for her debut EP.

Tracks 1, 2 and 3 are recorded in the studio and track 3 is recorded live in Amsterdam.

Track 1 is Overseas. It has a interesting rhythmic chord structure which is almost reminiscent of a sea shanty, but the main point of interest is in the vocals which are at the forefront of the mix. they are haunting and high without falling into the Mariah Carey warbling trap of many a female singer songwriter. The song is more of a ponderous start than an album opener.

Track 2 - My Kind Of Love. The strong chord structure played as arpeggios immediatly demands attention which is strengthened by a great vocal. The song definitely has a strong potential, it has the same haunting nature as track 1, but with a strong pop hook. The song, however could do with some editing. It is a great chorus, but the song is all chorus and it struggles not to overstay its welcome when there is only guitar and vocals in the mix. The song is essentially the relentless repetition of an amazing chorus.

Track 3 - Is recorded live - I guess it's in Amsterdam somewhere. It has a similar driving rhythm to the first track. Its a good track, but I think it needs a band to carry the rhythm.

Track 4 - Is a very good track, and probably the most complete on the EP. The chorus isn;t as good as "My kind of love", but the structure of the song and the pace of the song give the song a little more depth.

I'm not a huge fan of female singers. I often hear something that I like, but it rarely stays long in my regular playlist. There are a few exceptions(Rosie Thomas). Danalyze has a lot of potential, and I would love to see her find the time to record a full album of her songs properly. I know that she can carry a band, so I think it would be great if she could find the right bunch of musicians to platy her songs to the masses.

iTunes link
Amazon Link
Danalyze on ReverbNation