Rebecca Schiffman

Upside Down Lacrimosa (2003)

Megan

I like female singers. I think that a lot of times, the emotions that a woman can convey with her voice are far more powerful than that of a male vocalist. That being said, I'm especially hard on female artists because I hold very high standards. Rebecca Schiffman, to me, just sounds like a watered-down Juliana Hatfield. Her debut CD came out September 23 on Some Records. The album is titled "Upside Down Lacrimosa." Schiffman's voice is monotone and boring. My goodness, Bijou Phillips released a better CD than this. The lyrics are sweet, but the vocals are so low that they're hard to make out a lot of the time. News flash: just because you're in art school, doesn't mean you need to put out an album.

Well, now that all that's out of my system, you can go to the bottom and continue the usual "man this bitch needs to die" comments, or you can read the things about this album that are keeping me from using it as a coaster.
1. Although all the songs blend together, at least sometimes they're bouncy. Maybe, instead of saying they all blend together, we'll say they flow, so that it's a positive, not a negative
2. It's a no muss-no fuss bare bones recording, which is somewhat refreshing
3. "Warning to a Talented Violinist" is a good song ("The Long Ride Home" is not)
4. The songs are short and sweet
5. The way that she came up with the title of the album is fairly interesting: she played the beginning of Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem, turned it upside down, and played it. The track appears on the CD, which is fun.

Unfortunately, the blandness of this CD overshadows the potential. The emotionless vocals aren't astounding, the melodies are bouncy, but not very catchy. At least the 14 tracks only last 34 minutes.