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album review
The story behind the release of Zee Avi's self-titled debut album is very much a 21st century tale. The Borneo-born, Kuala Lumpur-raised singer/songwriter began posting songs on YouTube at a friend's behest. Soon after she began to accumulate a fan base, eventually including the head of Monotone Records, who, in tandem with the people at Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records, signed her to a deal. The resulting record keeps very much in tune with the Brushfire aesthetic, with a warm and cozy sound, intimate vocals, and a general feeling of calm. While her songwriting is strong and she dishes out many fine melodies and perfectly fine lyrics, the real draw is Avi's vocals. Breathy, quiet, and sweet as spring, yet never wandering into cutesy territory, she hooks the listener in right away and never lets go. Songs like "Honey Bee," "Monte," and "First of the Gang to Die" are probably the most beguiling on the album, as they feature only Avi with guitar backing her vocals, but the instrumentation on the remainder never gets in the way (as you might expect from a Brushfire release). It's a very promising debut by an artist who already seems in total control of her gift; the trick now is to maintain the momentum and keep making records this good. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
listener reviews
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You need to hear this album
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- By acedotcom
- 5/28/2009 12:54:00
- Zee Avi came as a complete surprise to me. Normally "viral video"
performers talents are highly dubious at best, Avi delivers in every
way that most youtube sensations fail, providing more then just pop
covers, her self titled debut delivers original content in a style that
lie somewhere between Regina Spektor and Feist. All of the songs are
carefully arranged, usually between the subtlty of her delicately
strummed guitar and her hauntingly soothing voice. Her songs like
"first of the gang to die" is hard to recognize as a ballad about gang
violence except from the title, her guitar and vocals disguises the
subject in a way that i haven't heard since the first time I heard
"Pink Moon" by Nick Drake (oh yeah, i went there). Listening to the 30
second clip of "Zee Avi" isnt going to give her a fair shake...if you
have a Zune Pass or are willing to drop some points, then you NEED to
give this album a full listen. Honestly its the best album so far of
2009. - Be the first person to rate this review!
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