Regular Columnists

Artist: Lorraine Ferro
Genre: Pop
CD Review:
'I hadn't even noticed / how long I'd been holding my breath / or how long I'd been waiting / looking for something I couldn't find / something so undefined / things always left unsaid / I couldn't explain it myself / 'til I heard his simple words.' That's from the first of the 37 minutes here, 'Happy', which floats in on the ears of Irish mist, and quickly blows it off in favor of a slow friend-party setting, with lots of vocals and undisclosed instrumentation. Reminds me of a Stevie Nicks fest, an impromptu session between the potato salad and the pot, passed around like the past, feeling too much, and just managing to squeeze some of it out through song.

But for me, 2 of the best here are 'Copycat' and 'Screaming & Laughing'. Dig the chorus of the latter with 'but I'm screaming and I'm laughing / I found peace you said I never could / but I'm screaming and laughing / and that's my salvation you never understood / but I did it just like I said I would.' Now, I'll admit this one sort of sticks out because it's a dance song that has a kinda Abba song-hook implanted, and that's what makes it good. I dig the loud cry of many voices 'screaming', and the harmonies that are produced will remind you of a Madonna remix from the 90s.

The title song has the penultimate place on the 10 song cd, a pretty, cave-dwelling sound that at times reminds me of the petite and clear form of Olivia Newton John. Regardless of the languishing, Lorraine doesn't dwell on the negative like some. To coin a corporate phrase, I'd call her pro-active. 'I'm drowning in insomnia / floating in euphoria, whoa / I've living in ambivalence / languishing in turbulence / I'm in a state of I don't know, whoa / I'm languishing in turbulence.' However, I get the feeling she's not going to roll over and die and/or accept the circumstances. She's going to fight. She'll love again. And she'll sing higher next time. Good for her.