Simone White - I am the Man

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 22 / 7 / 2007

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Review

The second album from L.A. resident Simone White, who was born in Hawaii but has lived in various countries including England and France, is a strange mixture of styles. There is a laid-back, dream like feel to the majority of the 13 songs, the bulk of which were written by White, which is probably down to the production by Mark Nevers who produced Candi Staton’s album for the same label in the not too distant past and has recorded for Lambchop which shows in the production here. White dips her toes into many different waters here too. The opening two songs, ‘I Didn’t Have A Summer Romance’ and ‘Worm Was Wood’ both cover a sound that is a strange hybrid of soul and folk with drops here and there of the jazzy work of Astrud Gilberto. They are without a doubt the best two songs on the album and it’s unlikely that any other singer is producing such a mixture of sounds and making it sound so easy and relaxing as White is. It’s impossible to tell from the promo copy we have which songs White composed herself and research has failed to provide any answers. It would have been interesting to know which of these songs White had a hand in writing. The songs subjects flit from political to romance but the sound never veers much from a lovely, warm late-night feeling even on titles such as ‘The American War’. The opening song, ‘I Didn’t Have A Summer Romance’, pretty much sums up the whole feeling of this collection; a warm, summery vibe which is perfect for late summer evenings even though ‘Mary Jane’ tells the sad story of a girl marrying too soon and suffering at the hands of a violent man once their child came along. The summery laid- back feel sometimes hides darker lyrics but even on the more melancholyicsongs like ‘You May Be In Darkness’ there is a feeling that all should be all right with the world even if it isn’t. Much like Lambchop unsurprisingly. White is not going to change the world with this album, and she really hasn’t broken any new ground. She is a vocalist of some worth, knows her way around a decent melody and can write lyrics to match any other singer/songwriter today but her biggest asset is that there are not many, if any at all, that are producing music like this just now. Songs like ‘We Used To Stand So Tall’ are lyrically interesting and Never’s production ensures that the attention is held throughout the song but this album is not for everyone. There are so many brilliant female singers out there and while White is ahead of many of her contemporaries vocally it’s going to be a tough task to get her music across to more than a small minority who are already fans of this mixture of folk/soul/jazz. Interest is at an all time high thanks to re-issues of classic albums by Karen Dalton, Judee Sill and their ilk and the time of the year for this music is spot-on, if the summer ever does arrive, but, as good as White is at what she does, it’s going to be an uphill struggle.

Track Listing:-

1 I Didn't Have Any Summer Romance
2 Worm Was Wood
3 The Beep Beep Song
4 The American War
5 Roses Are Not Red
6 Great Imperialist State
7 Mary Jane
8 You May Be In Darkness
9 Sweetest Love Song
10 We Used To Stand So Tall
11 Why Is Your Raincoat Always Crying?
12 Only The Moon
13 I Am The Man

Label Links:-

http://honestjons.com/label