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Anna Rose - Nomad

by Shannon Taylor

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Anna Rose, the daughter of famed theatre and film composer Alan Menken, has offered up an impressive debut album of highly listenable, if slightly forgettable tunes. Nomad comes off the back of Anna Rose's self-titled five song EP, that acts as a precursor to Nomad.

Nomad opens up with the very radio-friendly �In the Morning View', with its countryish leanings, the song undoubtedly gets stuck in your head. However, it is not very easily differentiated from the current crop of country female singer-songwriters. This is a recurring theme throughout Nomad � the songs for all their right components, fail to really grab the listener and take them on a journey that is uniquely Anna Rose.

The lyrics on Nomad although pretty and serviceable, are neither the most insightful nor memorable. One feels almost as if the lyrics are slightly unfinished, and although the music is incredibly realised and very well put together, the seeming rush job of the lyrics belies the inexperience of the lyricist. For example, the opening lines of �Four Corners' offer up these lyrics, �The colour white on my wall/Never made me feel so small/Until now.' That isn't to say that all of Rose's lyrics are elementary, but I feel that they are unrealised, and could have perhaps taken more time in working on.

Anna Rose does have a very impressive voice, at times reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, with almost a little bit of a Jewel influence, as such it is very feminine, but allows itself to become gritty, as evidenced in songs such as the bluesy �I'll Be Gone.' There are no faults to be found in her voice, as it is clear and her phrasing is very impressive.

One of the standout tracks on Nomad is �Overtone', a slow burning ballad that admits that �baby this song's been written a thousand times/but not to you', and features a heartwrenching guitar solo that glimpses Rose's formidable skills. It is through this song and �Whispers' that we witness the potential of Anna Rose's songwriting abilities, sadly however too many of the other tracks just blend into each other and fail to offer any distinctive voice. There appears to be little on Nomad that sets Rose apart from her contemporaries, and at times the album feels like it is dangerously close to falling into the �middle of the road' category.

Nomad is very obviously a debut album, as it fails to offer any real impression of experience, and doesn't seem to adequately demonstrate Rose's strengths as a songwriter or composer. That being said, it is still a very listenable album, and I get the impression that there is still much more music to be offered from Anna Rose. Perhaps her second album will allow Rose to grow as a songwriter, in order for her to be able to claim an individual and unique voice.



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Anna Rose - Nomad
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