REVIEW: Unique album leaves listeners wanting more
Erin McCarley is a new, young, fresh artist. Odds are you’ve never heard of her, but if you’re reading this article, you have now.
Imagine, if you will, a light mixture of the Eagles, Eric Hutchinson, Vanessa Carlton, Sara Bareilles and the tartness of a kiwi (the fruit – there’s no artist with that name). That’s Erin McCarley.
“Love, Save the Empty,” McCarley’s debut album, hit stores in January of this year, and has suffered from relative obscurity. This normally happens to up-and-coming artists, so greatness should not be confused with exposure.
The album has 11 tracks, the most popular of which at the time of this writing is the title track, “Love, Save the Empty.” This song is the song mainly featured in the feature film “He’s Just Not That Into You,” and is the only track with a music video of the film. Coincidentally, another artist on that soundtrack is Eric Hutchinson … hmmm. The two artists are similar. The other 10 tracks that sandwich “Love” into the middle of the album give it balance and a touch of sassy attitude that McCarley is not afraid to flaunt.
Her album is very unique, and is filled with a variety of different styles, such as the dark bluesy sound of “Sticky Sweet,” to the light and floaty ballad of “Gotta Figure this Out” and “Love, Save the Empty.” McCarley is a very versatile artist, with a sultry voice that could be used in any style of music from country to a Paramore-like rock ‘n’ roll. McCarley displays wisdom in the way she employs her voice in this album, never overextending it, but also displaying the depth of it. It leaves the listener yearning for more.
So, how does the general feel of the album ebb and flow? Let’s take a look-see.
“Pony,” alternatively titled “It’s OK,” reminds me the most of Sara Bareilles of any track in this album, but there’s a difference. Erin McCarley is actually worth listening to, and her voice doesn’t sound like sandpaper on cement to me. She uses the piano a lot during the melody of the song, but is not limited to the piano and employs airy guitars similarly to how Vanessa Carlton does it. The guitars highlight the chorus, even if it is a bit repetitive. I’m not that much of a fan of a chorus that incorporates four repetitions of “La dit da da dit da da dit da,” but it is catchy, so I can’t hit it too hard.
The album takes a left turn after the first track, not necessarily changing style, but certainly changing tone. The second track in the album, “Blue Suitcase,” is a tune with a dark tone. I especially like the chorus. The melody builds and builds, then McCarley lets loose. A waterfall of minor chords, accented by dark sounding back-up singers, showers over McCarley’s moderately hooky lyrics. I like it. It’s good stuff. This same tone is continued through the third track.
McCarley’s style and tone reminds me of a dark, female Eric Hutchinson in “Sticky Sweet,” the third track. Piano makes a huge comeback in this song, as well as the bass drum. McCarley continues her dark tone and sultry, seductive style to make anyone who listens to “Sticky Sweet” think of more than honey, syrup and molasses. When you get a minute, check out the lyrics for this song and the two that follow. There’s a definite contrast between “Sticky Sweet” and “Lovesick Mistake” and “Love, Save The Empty.”
Often, we as young college students find ourselves trapped in that ephereal, intangible, nonsensical wonderland we call love. Boy meets girl, boy thinks girl is awesome, girl thinks the same about boy, they get together and then the moral standards of everyone involved dictates what happens from then on. More often than not, however, something goes wrong and the couple splits, usually emotionally destroying one-half of the duo. If you were to take “Sticky Sweet,” “Lovesick Mistake,” and “Love, Save the Empty” as the script of such an encounter, it is something that many young people, and maybe even quite a few not-so-young people can relate to. By saying that, I don’t mean to insinuate in the least that McCarley sings a lot of angry girl music. One thing to be remembered, Erin McCarley is not Kelly Clarkson.
“Love, Save the Empty” (the track, not the album) is a hit. It’s catchy, it has been publicized, as aforementioned, by New Line Cinema in the film “He’s Just Not That Into You” and it can resonate with almost anyone who has been in love at some point and then changed his or her mind. I could try and give you a huge explanation of how it is, but I think in this case, it’s pointless. Go listen to it, or look the video up on YouTube.
The only weakness to the album that I could find is that after about the seventh track of the album, the sound gets a bit repetitive. By this time, McCarley has already got the message of the album across, and the rest of the album exists as a complement to that message.
McCarley has done a fantastic job with this album. I think if her next album is as good as this one, we’ll be hearing about her for a good long time.
–la.hem@aggiemail.usu.edu