February 2008A Fine Frenzy
is the stage name of 22-year-old self-taught pianist Alison Sudol. Released in July of
2007, One Cell in the Sea is her debut album, and she has since found a solid niche
in the alternative/college radio scene. Sudols piano playing is lush and expansive,
from delicate ivory tickling to dramatic chord crashes, and the arrangements are aimed at
a full, highly produced sound. But it is the voice of the strikingly fair redhead that
carries her. Comparable to Feist or Regina Spektor, Sudol can stretch her vocals with
surprising control from breathless to operatic within the same song.
Standout tracks include the somber single "Almost
Lover," a haunting lullaby about lost love, and the fairy-tale yarn of
"Rangers." Sudol credits a love of literature and writers such as Lewis Carroll
and C. S. Lewis as inspiration for her own writing, and such bookishness is overtly
apparent throughout One Cell in the Sea. For the most part, the simplicity of
Sudols vocals and piano is maintained despite the almost-too-perfect flawlessness of
the production.
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