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Music Club Wk3 - Luisa Sobral - The Cherry On My Cake


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MUSIC CLUB - WEEK 3

LUISA SOBRAL - "The Cherry On My Cake" 

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@Ghost kicking off week three! This is a nice tonal shift for the music club! Ghost has chosen Luisa Sobral's "The Cherry On My Cake" 

I'm going to let him come in and explain his choice as it's quite a personal one for him.

Ya'll have one week to give it a spin and leave a review, if you're stuck on how to review it here's some basic ideas - 

Love It Or Hate It, What Do You Love, What Do You Hate?

Stand Out Tracks

Would You Recommend It?

What Does It Sound Similar To?

Would You Listen To It Again?

Notable Sounds / Lyrics

In the spoiler is the youtube playlist, Spotify album, and apple music link. 

 

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Alright! Gonna try to not bore you, guys and gals! This is my input on how and why I picked up this album:

 

I discovered Luisa almost by accident, on the worst moment of my life. Yeah, same period in which I had anxiety problems and a panic attack. It was back in 2010-2011. By that time I had to drive lots of miles to get to my job every single day. In my mind state, I didn't found any record I could listen to while driving. It was weird. Nothing I knew was able to relax me or make me not think about shit, except for The Beach Boys, but I didn't want to burn their music, neither to attach bad memories and feelings to their records. Weird me.

So I started to listen a lot to the radio in the car. Surfing the waves (HAH!) to find anything to entertain me and not think, just to find distraction. One day, on a Spanish radio station (Radio 3) I found a show called "Cuando los elefantes sueñan con la música" (translated would be something like 'when elephants dream about music'), which is a music dedicated radio show, but not on the mainstream side. They go for the 'music of the world' kind of thing, you know. So one day, accidentally, I stopped the dial there, on that show, and something caught my ear. By then I didn't knew the title or who was singing, but it just kept my attetion 100% into it. It was "Not There Yet", a song from this album. When the song finished, I was sold, and the presenter started to talk about Luisa, and this album, and how she being portuguese did a blend between his country music, and other genres and music of other countries (like bossanova, jazz, french music...). And then, he played a few songs more.

I fell in love instantly with her voice and her songs. The impressive amount of influences contained on this record... they just blew my mind, because they were brought to a really easy to listen terrain in a perfect blend. The record sounded like a total beauty to me, in a period in which I was not that into this type of music, and was a total discovery.

Moreover, those songs felt like a balm for my mind and my anxiety.

So, well... I hope you enjoy it!

:)

 

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I listened this morning on my way to work and this is probably my favourite music club pick so far - 

She reminds me a little of Emily loizeau, but happier and not French. The album overall has a very wholesome, cheery feel to it even with it's darker exceptions and I found it very welcoming on such a sunny morning. the fact that I tapped my foot more to this record than a lot of rock stuff lately was mildly entertaining. I have a soft spot for piano led music. 

I think the middle of the record is the stand out for me, From track six to track ten. "You Won't Take Long" was so hopeful and sad that it really touched me. "Mr & Mrs Brown" was genuinely funny and kind of surprising - while the record is very light, this one just took the general 'joy' of it all to the next level. I adored Xico musically and melodically and was frustrated by the fact that I couldn't understand a goddamn word, I really want to know what she's singing about! After All was also strong and a bit of a gut punch.

I think the duality of English and Portuguese lyrics on the record made for a kind of alternative listening experience - The Portuguese tracks made me pay more attention to the general musicality and I think in some ways I got more out of it than some of the others... but I still wish I understood them. 

Her voice is a little strange and I think it may put some people off but I quite like individual voices so it grew on me quite quickly.

Genuinely surprised that she wrote the Portugal Eurovision winner from 2017... I detested that song, I may have to give it a spin and try to ignore her brothers wailing. 

overall I'd give this record a solid 7/10

Tracks I'd recommend - Won't Take You Long, Xico, Don't Let Me Down (for the bass!) 

 

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2 hours ago, Patient #48273 said:

Not sure about other countries, but this album isn't available on Spotify Canada, so that's what's holding me up. I know the Youtube link is there too, but I'm a lot less likely to listen to a whole album on YT compared to Spotify.

Really? worked for Spotify UK, that's weird / annoying. problem with international releases I guess. 

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Hmm, well I'll move forward with week 4 anyway. @Patient #48273 , fancy taking a stab at this? The new thread will be Thursday. I just need you to PM me the record, preferably with youtube / spotify / Apple Music links, and let me know why you chose it for the music club. 

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I like this album. Thirty seconds into the first song, I thought of Frank Sinatra and Kurt Elling, and that sentiment stuck with me for the rest of the album. I listened to artists like Sinatra and Kurt Elling a lot growing up because my parents liked them, so listening to this album was like a throwback to those times for me personally. I think the production is what modernizes the songs, bringing them into the 21st century while still retaining the standards-type sound.

The instrumentation is pleasant and the lyrics are pretty good even though they're rather simple. Straightforward and to the point works best for this kind of music anyway. The slower songs definitely stand out--I think it speaks to an artist's musical versatility if they can succeed on both faster and slower songs--or more specifically in this album's case, more lighthearted and more downcast songs. I also like Luisa's vocals--they're unusual, but it gives her that capital s Singer identity that you need to excel as a standards-like artist. She's distinctive.

My only criticism is that the music gets a little boring at times, and occasionally it veers into cheesy territory--especially with the horn instrumentals on some of the tracks--but that's how I feel about almost all music of this type, so it's not unique to Luisa.

This album is probably my favorite of the albums we've listened to so far.

Favorite Track: "You Won't Take Long"

Least Favorite Track: "Xico"

Overall Rating: Light 7

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On 07/07/2018 at 11:34 PM, Nasa said:

I like this album. Thirty seconds into the first song, I thought of Frank Sinatra and Kurt Elling, and that sentiment stuck with me for the rest of the album. I listened to artists like Sinatra and Kurt Elling a lot growing up because my parents liked them, so listening to this album was like a throwback to those times for me personally. I think the production is what modernizes the songs, bringing them into the 21st century while still retaining the standards-type sound.

The instrumentation is pleasant and the lyrics are pretty good even though they're rather simple. Straightforward and to the point works best for this kind of music anyway. The slower songs definitely stand out--I think it speaks to an artist's musical versatility if they can succeed on both faster and slower songs--or more specifically in this album's case, more lighthearted and more downcast songs. I also like Luisa's vocals--they're unusual, but it gives her that capital s Singer identity that you need to excel as a standards-like artist. She's distinctive.

My only criticism is that the music gets a little boring at times, and occasionally it veers into cheesy territory--especially with the horn instrumentals on some of the tracks--but that's how I feel about almost all music of this type, so it's not unique to Luisa.

This album is probably my favorite of the albums we've listened to so far.

Favorite Track: "You Won't Take Long"

Least Favorite Track: "Xico"

Overall Rating: Light 7

Hey, we both liked You Won't Take Long, and both prefer this album the most so far. interesting! we usually differ quite a lot but I agree with your review of it completely. the lyrical simplicity doesn't shock me though, if English is her second language. 

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I see what you're saying and I get your point of view. The refferences you mention are definitely there.

The cheesy part you're talking about, for me, just shows on some lyrics. But they're made under such a kind of innocence, which makes them... cute? You know, so to say. I'm talking, for example, about Not There Yet.

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