TheCapitalClinic

I have been meaning to swing back to give more serious listenin' time to Michele Vreeland and, like most of us, got lost in the overwhelming flow of music that is being created everywhere. However, the very first time I heard one of her early songs, "Wanted to say", it was enough to hook me and benchmark her work for further review.

In doing my homework on Michele, I came across her bio on The Cover Zone that described her extant works in part as follows:

"Wanted to say" was written with her brother Timothy Vreeland while they were sitting on a couch playing around. But later Michele fine tuned the music and lyrics to be what it is today! "I'm a person", written after she made it out of a bad relationship, is lyrically compelling and empowers you to feel stronger about who you are as a person. And her delivery when singing "Just me, I can be just me", defines high notes that have never sounded so fluid and clear! " Want more" an epic song, beautifully showcases Michele Vreeland's clean and clear low alto vocals mixed in with her signature charging high notes when she sings the line "you can sacrifice everything when you don't do, don't do what makes you sing" send you soaring to another plane! "Who I am", a rock infused ballad to moving on, leaves you wanting to know more!

Third party reviews should never be a substitute for your own impressions about how an artist's songs make you feel. However, they are useful to provide context, framing, and comparison. To me, Michele's songs up to that time are pretty well described in the Cover Zone review. Her songs reveal talent and progression as an artist. There is variety and growing depth, particularly in "Want More", a song that I had already added to my music library.

To me, her lastest song upload, Understanding, reveals Michele's progression to yet another level. This one has greater complexity and nuance and demonstrates MV's understanding of her real world of sound and where it might go - to move, if you will, "beyond Californy Girl". Michele is moving on to develop a more distinctive signature. I like this world: a little bit of country, little folk, still that "LA Girly" sound [which is OK] but with more willingness to experiment with her deeper chords which, to me, define her. This one has more urgency, more claim to a beat world. In fact, it beats. This one is my fav, so far.

I added "Understanding" to my Rock/Soul/Pop Playlist to join Michele's "Want More" that already resided there for quite a few months. When you have time, have a listen to both of these songs and let me, or more importantly, Michele know how it fits with the other fuzz artists in this list.