Andrea Nardello

Andrea Nardello

URL: http://www.andreanardello.com/

Andrea Nardello was sidelined by writer’s block for two years before a simple love song she wrote for her girlfriend heralded a new era of emboldened self-identity and reinvigorated creativity. This surge of positivity and assuredness is reflected in the songs on her stately seven-song EP “Echo.” The EP glows with her dreamy folk sensibility accented by tasteful musical flourishes like organ and rootsy electric guitar filigree.

“There is so much change captured in this EP,” the Philly-based singer-songwriter says with palpable excitement. “I’ve found my true voice as a singer-songwriter – there is an old school soulfulness there – and there is just more honesty all around. I’m embracing everything about myself, from my personal life to my creative drives.”

The first track is Beautiful Girls, and it deals with the pitfalls of beauty with a delicate sweeping acoustic backdrop, it reminds well of singers like Melissa Etheridge. It sets the tone for most of the disc, but it’s not all this feather light handed, however that is not before the exquisite One Good Reason Why, with its extremely soft delivery. I love this tune but it could be placed in another spot somewhere, as it rides too far along the edge of the opening cut. But this makes way for a very uniquely original song and probably the best one on offer in I Am The Water, which encapsulates everything Nardello is all about. This isn’t some fluke it’s a very well-crafted piece of music behind a crushing vocal performance. This is the standard in which all singer-songwriters are made of, and where she comes completely together. On Back To Where We Started, the tempo finds its way back down but in an oh so lovely way. This is a perfectly complimenting track to the former, as they mingle very well together. Some of these songs have a country thing about them and it seems to end on Why Can’t We Be Happy, with a bouncier feel to it. It’s amazing how these songs get hard to classify, but it’s also a thing of frustration for the reviewer because while it’s categorized it can still be confused. This is happening more and more these days and making it all the harder to stamp an opinion on it which sticks longer than a week. Both Home To Me and Give Me It All take the disc out with two lovely sweeping acoustic numbers that complement the rest very well and help make for a grand effort by Nardello, which leaves me with only one desire, and that is to hear more, like a full album or even a live release on her next effort, as the EP factor is its only downside.

Purchase Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/echo/id824111094

Scott Prinzing

Score: 9/10