I\u2019m not nearly qualified to say whether Long Island is in fact the new Brooklyn, but damn, there\u2019s a lot of talent lurking out there east of the NYC limits. <\/p>\n
Cassandra House is a young singer-songwriter who\u2019s part of the remarkably fertile Long Island scene that in recent years has brought us Last Charge of the Light Horse, Butcher\u2019s Blind, Pete Mancini, Bryan Gallo, Robert Bruey and more. House\u2019s full-length debut The Roam<\/i> features a pair of players I\u2019m familiar with from that scene, Jonathan Preddice on cello and Chris Marshak on drums, as well as David March on bass and Anthony Pravata on guitars.<\/p>\n
In terms of comparables, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Neko Case and Patty Griffin are fair names to mention, thoughtful singer-songwriters working within the big tent of Americana, but with the ability to take a song in any direction, whether it be folk, country, rock or blues. The Patty Griffin connection is strengthened by the presence of co-producer Ben Wisch, whose lengthy resume includes albums by the likes of Griffin, Marc Cohn, David Wilcox, and Kathy Mattea.<\/p>\n
The opening title track establishes House\u2019s range immediately, starting out acoustic, all softness and restraint, before ramping up and blossoming nicely into a showcase for her powerful voice as she sings of\u00a0 \u201ca circus of lost souls\u201d she encounters on her roam. \u201cLittle Flower\u201d is more direct in the sense it starts out bigger and bolder, an assertive folk-rock number with forceful vocals. <\/p>\n
Preddice\u2019s presence is especially welcome on \u201cLittle Flower,\u201d where the cello adds dimension and impact to the basic melody, and again on \u201cAlone Without You,\u201d where it heightens the inherent drama of a song in that familiar \u201990s Paula Cole \u2013 Chantal Kreviazuk \u2013Sarah McLachlan bold-and-echoey vein.<\/p>\n
The tempo of the album eases up in the middle, with the smoky meditation \u201cDanger, Danger\u201d giving way to the similarly contemplative \u201cGiving Up The Gun.\u201d \u201cEyes\u201d takes a brighter turn, a thoughtful tune looking back at \u201chow it all went wrong\u201d with sharp support from the entire band, and \u201cTidal\u201d surges appropriately, from slumbering verses to billowing choruses.<\/p>\n
This eight-song, 41-minute album closes out with another highlight, the heartfelt blues \u201cGoodnight Marionette,\u201d where House pushes her commanding, expressive voice into Susan Tedeschi territory\u2014a compliment indeed\u2014as her band again provides terrific backing.<\/p>\n
House is a chameleon in the best sense of the word, able to transition seamlessly from gentle acoustic songstress at album\u2019s open to belting blues singer in its final moments. The Roam<\/i> is well put-together from start to finish, with solid songwriting, a crack band, excellent production and House\u2019s very pretty and deceptively powerful voice at the center of it all. Cassandra House clearly has a story to tell and The Roam<\/i> suggests she\u2019ll have many more opportunities to tell it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":33516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10196],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-45335","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-cassandra-house","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45335"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}