Ingrid Michaelson, a famous name without a label’s help

Everybody is the third album of a promising New-York indie-pop singer Ingrid Michaelson, who deserves attention at least because she has managed to become famous without any collaboration with famous labels. Born to an intelligent American family – her father is a composer and her mother is a sculptor – Ingrid took up piano at the age of 4 and continued exercising her talent throughout her studying at the music school, music institute, as well as while attending Staten Island Technical High School and Binghamton University. Michaelson can definitely be called a diverse and sophisticated person, who does not only give herself fully to the creation of her favourite music, but also has got a good education. The start of her musical career may be spotted at the time when Ingrid recorded self-penned songs and streamed them through MySpace, when finally there were enough songs for an album. Her first record Girls and Boys had a fully classic indie-sound. It was Ingrid’s unique vocals that helped the album, recorded in a small home-studio, get at the tops of the music charts. The new work Everybody marks a new stage in Michaelson’s life – it’s an album of relationships so intense and volatile at the same time, that both partners loose themselves and become unable to go on.

An optimist’s view on the breakup on Everybody

It is enough to say that the album is an overview of the breakup to describe the whole atmosphere of Everybody. This overview, however, is fully optimistic. «Everybody wants to be loved» is the main idea of the whole record penetrating each of its songs. That main idea absolutely fits into Ingrid’s positive view on life which always has enough space for unreasonable belief in a miracle. The album opens with Soldier refined with an acoustic guitar and Ingrid’s vocals’ airy sweetness. This is surely a love-song telling about how somebody can give his or her whole heart and soul to the relationship and end up all alone in the long run. Despite the lyrics being full of melancholy, the overall atmosphere of the song is light and romantic due to the acoustic sound and fairy-like vocals. The title-track Everybody fits best with the record’s atmosphere – sad lyrics telling of a heartbreak contrasts with the childishly nice chorus melody creating its own inimitable air. Tracks like Are We There Yet and Once Was Love are among the most characteristic songs of the album, as it is them that correspond fully to what the singer wanted Everybody to be. An experimental orchestral sound accompanied by the powerful piano and percussion successfully coincide with Ingrid’s sincere vocals. The closer Locked Up slowly takes the listener to the end of the album and quite luckily dissipates the record’s melodramatic context. Starting with some insistent piano chords it continues to grow with the drums’ appearance which is quite uncharacteristic for the singer’s previous works though it cannot but inspire with its novelty.

New album inspires one to believe in fairy-tales

The new album Everybody can surely be called a great step forward in a new direction for Ingrid Michaelson. It inspires with the novelty of its sound, as well as that of its composition. Though Everybody was surely written under the influence of I the New-York indie-singer’s personal relationship’s failure, it doesn’t leave that heavy feeling when all you can be is sad and nostalgic. In fact, the rhythmic guitar melody together with the merry hand-clapping in the album’s title-song especially underline that very buoyancy and unwavering belief in a fairy-tale characteristic of the singer’s whole creative work. Judging by Michaelson’s success on television – her songs were used in such TV series as Scrubs, Grey’s Anatomy and others, as well as in various commercials – it would be natural to suppose that the singer’s following creative and professional growth will not make us wait too long. Ingrid is well-known for her live performances with an excellent well-balanced sound, sincere emotions and quirky humor. The scheduled tour to promote her new album is sure not only to satisfy her old fans, but attract some new ones, as such a real talent cannot remain unnoticed.

Alexandra Zachernovskaya

09.09.2009

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