It seems like nowadays when an artist is featured on the VH1 You Oughta Know tour, they eventually turn into the next big thing (ask James Blunt or Sara Bareilles). But one person that didn't really garner any more popularity is Alison Sudol, better known as A Fine Frenzy -- which is also ironic considering her and Sara's respective albums were released on the same day. And Alison's lack of popularity is unfortunate because her album One Cell in the Sea is damn good.
Alison seems to score best with heartbreak tracks, as shown by "Ashes and Wine" and especially the single "Almost Lover". But introspective tracks score as well, like "Whisper", "The Minnow & the Trout" (the song that inspired the album's title) and the metaphoric "Rangers". And "Borrowed Time" closes the album nicely.
Although half a star had to be taken off for "Liar, Liar", One Cell in the Sea proves that Alison deserves a lot more attention than she gets because this musical experience is indeed a fine frenzy. It's not too late to pick it up.
Anthony Rupert
June 18, 2008 |  | Great Album & Amazing Talent |  |
This is an absolute favorite CD of mine due to its esoteric and captivating melodies, not to mention A Fine Frenzy's vocal talent. The lyrics are beautiful, poetic in their own ways but never to confuse them with convoluted passages. This album and her talent molded well together. I absolutely loved her voice and her music. It's quite a masterpiece in its own respect that I highly recommend it to anyone especially to the dreamer, the poet or the hopeless romantic.
June 16, 2008Don't let my three star review fool you, I love this CD. I can listen to it all the way through and only skip one or two songs (quite an accomplishment for me). The lyrics are sweet and poetic; her voice is soft and sultry with a very pretty female falsetto. Unfortunately, she doesn't convince me. She has the vocal capability to reach a level of depth and passion that I just didn't find in this CD. She comes close in Ashes in Wine, one of my favorite tracks. Almost Lover is appropriately sad and (like many, I'm sure) the reason I bought the ablum, The Minnow and the Trout is an awkward but enjoyable stance on social relations, and Rangers finds a subtle Irish background mixed with prosaic lyrics, a good combination, but she sings it with slight lackluster and as pretty as the song is, I'm left a little unsatisfied. The meloncholy feel of the album is the reason I love it, but you can have meloncholy without monotony, and I think she rides a fine line. I truly hope that her follow-up album finds her doing some soul-searching. A voice that pretty is too good to waste on songs it doesn't deeply connect with.
June 3, 2008 | | A Few Gems Make It Worth The Listen | |
I'm going back and upgrading my rating after three weeks based on having had a little more time to sit with the album. I have enjoyed the recent flood of talented female artists sharing their unique voices from Amy Winehouse to Sara Bareilles to Colbie Calliat. I agree with one of the recent reviewers that this album suffers badly from overproduction and perhaps doesn't compliment the talent of the amazing vocal talents of Alison Sudol. At times it still seems as if she's struggling against the background tracks to hear herself in the recording studio making it hard to really get into it. However, on a few tracks especially "Lifesize" and "Ashes and Wine" her sultry and slightly bruised vocal style really comes through. This is still a welcome addition to the genre. Hopefully the next attempt will really let her obvious talent come through.
June 3, 2008First of all let me say that although I listen to a wide variety of music, I usually only find a couple artists in any given "genre" who I think fit the bill artist.
A Fine Frenzy (insert her name as everyone else did) has struck me as art. Art, in any form, should make me feel. If I don't feel anything then it's not art for me. One Cell in the Sea, on the very first listen, had me smilling through tears more than once. There is something so heart-wrenchingly wonderful about this selection of songs that I must play it frequently. I won't go into a song-by-song. Suffice it say that if you have not gifted your ears with A Fine Frenzy, it is time.
May 27, 2008More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(110 reviews)