YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr6zd7NpN6o

Kelly McGrath has been around for a few years now, so there’s no shame in believing we’ve heard the full range of her memorable talents. Her latest single, a cover of the Christmas standard “O Holy Night”, challenges any assumptions we’ve made. McGrath’s professed model for this cover is Jeff Buckley’s seminal interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and you can hear that come across quite clearly in her performance. This is a nominal holiday song recast as the spiritual that it’s always been, but it’s a spiritualism rising above dogma or doctrine and, instead, speaking to universal human experience in musical form. She pursues a singular vision with this performance and, despite her commercial success, impresses an image of herself upon new and longtime listeners of her work as musical art rather than pure entertainment. “O Holy Night” is a powerful example of a vocal artist working at or near the peak of her powers and bursting into a new realm of expression.

VEVO: https://www.vevo.com/artist/severine

“Not Obsessed” from Severine has an unique blend of electronica and typical pop instrumentation capped off with a vocal performance that makes it all the more memorable. The influence of acts like Portishead and Muse is discernible in the songwriting, but Severine already has her own voice early in a career that’s sure to experience many peak moments. Her producer Anthony “Rocky” Gallo is a notable figure on the New York City music scene who has worked with some of the music world’s biggest names and he aids Severine in framing this song in a dramatic light. It’s equally important that Severine embodies the passions of the lyric so well without ever lapsing into self indulgence or overwrought histrionics. Instead, she has the style of performers much older and glides through the performance hitting all of its high points and tapping into the mood of the song throughout its entirety.

URL: www.frankshiner.com

Frank Shiner’s 2016 album - Lonely Town, Lonely Street is a dedication to some of his favorite artists of the past and present, from an artist with a career in both theater and music. He’s been around the block and so have the people he works with, which includes too much to name here when it comes to producers and writers. He has also released a Christmas cover song to take out 2016 in cerebral fashion.

URL: https://www.djangomack.com/

100 Page Tattoo finds Americana band Django Mack returning with the same mix of rough and tumble blues coupled with flashes of real poetry that has distinguished their previous releases. It also shows their songwriting becoming increasingly refined; they achieve the same impact with shorter, more focused songs that might have been longer and more diffuse on prior recordings. The continued sharpening of their presentation sets them apart from similar acts and never sounds ill fitting – Django Mack’s members sound like they have internalized the sound and mood of their songs rather than using nothing but technique to approximate some novice or poseur’s idea of what this musical style should sound like. They are obviously keyed into a particular design for how they should sound – this is further reflected by the production credits shared between lead singer and primary songwriter Brandon Butrick, bassist Tom Donald, and drummer Tim Vaughan.

GOOGLE PLAY: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Ian_C_Bouras_Absence_Live_Looping?id=Bex3w2xn23frcm6kwy2d4gabvxq

Primarily associated with ambient or dub music in his solo career, Ian Bouras’ wide ranging skills set him apart in an era of diminished expectations. Bouras’ latest solo effort, Absence (live looping), certainly embraces an ambient sound with its fixation on surrounding Bouras’ guitar with electronic looping or delay effects. His use of this technology isn’t just shallow gimmickry; instead, it is noticeable, from the first, the added depth and color he brings to his compositions thanks to the tasteful use of those aforementioned technologies. His tenure playing with and writing in bands like New York City’s AñaVañA has honed his melodic strengths to a glittering edge and those talents rise to the fore at numerous points throughout this release, but there are other moments where Bouras is clearly aiming to craft compelling soundscapes that suggest cinematic imagery to listeners while still connecting with them emotionally.

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Room-Remix-Jonathan-Cavier/dp/B076SRJTH4

Jonathan Cavier’s 2017 album Blue Room will likely finish out the year surrounded by the same atmosphere greeting its initial release – as one of the year’s best all-around effort regardless of genre. This likelihood, however, doesn’t persuade Cavier to stand pat. Great albums are never finished, only released, and Cavier has opted for revisiting his album in collaboration with engineer Nico Essig for a full remix that casts his sophomore effort in a different light through adding previously unreleased songs, reworking his already fine vocals, and twisting the overall sound in another direction. Essig, with a CV including artists Katy Perry and Paul McCartney, has wreathed Cavier’s material in a robust and thoroughly modern sound that accentuates his musical and vocal strengths. The new material doesn’t upset the original album’s balance but, instead, ratchets up the intensity of the release and allows different sides of Cavier’s musical character to get their day in the sun.

URL: www.officialtrevordrury.com

“Snowy Nights” might have a wintery theme, but Trevor Drury’s latest single is far from a crass attempt to cash in on the season. Its timely release is, indeed, a bit of shrewd and obvious marketing, but even a single pass through this song should convince even the most jaded of listeners that the track comes from a very personal place for Drury. It doesn’t come through in just his vocal and the songwriting, but in the inviting and warm sound he invests the song with. There’s an unique atmosphere surrounding the recording imbuing his voice and the minimal instrumentation with resounding clarity and a sense of gravitas appropriate to the seriousness he shows taking on the material. It’s a powerful composition in every respect and continues to solidify his rapidly expanding reputation as one of the most promising talents on the modern pop scene.

URL: https://www.valeriefahren.com/

As a seasoned Artist Development and Vocal coach, Valarie Fehren has helped a long list of artists succeed for the last two decades, and there is a lot behind that. Fahren is also a singer-songwriter in her own right, with a new single; “Say You Love Me” which showcases her own talents as she continues to grow herself as an artist and music business professional. Fahren has worked with an assortment of artists and stars over the years, such as Edgar Winter, Neil Diamond, Juliette Lewis, and award-winning songwriter-producer Andre Lindal. And her clients have performed with such artists as Chaka Khan, Jessica Simpson and Beck.