Michelle Ann Kelly’s debut album is chockful of songs of such quality that even if they don’t save your life they’re sure to enrich it mightily.
Kelly serves up a hot stew of rock, pop, country and soul with a panache that transcends genres, and her voice exudes a soulfulness that makes you feel she’s lived these songs from the inside. The emotional ballad ‘Time’ has already scored on radio, and ‘I Will Be Here’ is an equally heartfelt paean to a committed relationship. ‘Lost In Paris’ is the kind of forlorn country-pop you rarely hear outside the US, and ‘American Highway’ scoots along jauntily, with Kelly’s vocals more breathy than usual. She rocks it up majestically on ‘Hold On The Night’, and ‘Somebody Someday’ and ‘Everything’ are both as aching as a love song can get.
Kelly’s compositions achieve a literacy and a conviction that takes them outside the norm, crafting popular music for mature people with real lives. Aided by classy arrangements and musicians who feel the intent of a song, rather than merely playing the notes, this is a remarkable debut that deserves to triumph around the globe.