Sun on the Sand - Jason Lent

Some years ago in college, I created multiple personalities to maximize the free CD offers from BMG and Columbia House. Changing a few letters in your name was all it took to get 12 CDs in the mailbox. Before broadband and file sharing, this was pretty exciting stuff. One of the albums I ordered on a whim was Jewel’s debut. This was two years before the album, partially re-recorded to clean up the singles, actually broke into the mainstream. It was disarmingly simple and charming which few albums from 1995 could say. Hearing Brandi Emma’s new EP for the first time brings back such memories. Minimal arrangements adorn the songs and one hopes the forthcoming album maintains this balance. Emma’s voice has the power to still a chatty coffee shop and enough depth to color the emotional spectrum. “Every day is right as rain/until you come home drunk again” sets the mood on ‘Let It Go’ and Emma’s voice edges close to breaking as she sorts out her heart. On ‘Happy’, the skies are clear and full of hope as the music dances down an ocean highway while the acoustic strings patter like rain on a window on the darker ‘Photographic Memory’. The EP runs only 15 minutes, which makes it a perfect complement to Sunday morning coffee and a fresh baked scone. If she maintains this simple approach to her music that allows her voice to fill the open spaces, Emma’s debut album will be a lovely affair that promises to bring light to the rainiest of mornings.

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