The first single from Melon Soup,
“Human”, brings another creative high for its composer and performer Kirbie.
Kirbie Rose Parker is based out of the Washington D.C. area and has been
working at her art for the last nine years in an effort to build and expand on
her audience. The discipline and hard work required have paid off with a fully
integrated effort that works both musically and lyrically. The production
highlights her highly individual blend of multiple genres and lays a thoughtful
songwriting sensibility over it all that never panders to her target audience.
One never gets the sense that Kirbie is confining herself to a narrow swath of
the listening public. Instead, “Human” seems aimed for anyone who’s experienced
their own frailty and consistently asks the big questions that each of us seeks
answers for over the course of our lives. This immensely relatable subject
matter and the fine musical accompaniment make this performance a winner from
the outset.
Everything begins, however, with
Kirbie’s vocal. She comes in early and stamps her presence deep into the song
with warm, even sultry, phrasing capable of tempering the thorniest patches.
Her voice is tailor made for the musical backing and dovetails well into the
interplay between the drumming and keyboard work while still maintaining her
position as the song’s guiding musical force. Kirbie further distinguishes herself
for being a vocalist that pays close attention to the material – rather than
juxtaposing her voice against the song, she wants to play with the musicians
and use her voice as it’s intended. She has a marvelous musical instrument,
natural, with her voice alone. It’s lovely, as well, to hear how her voice
picks up and relaxes with the various swells of emotion punctuating the lyric
content. Kirbie is a clear and lucid writer who examines themes with a minimum
amount of verbiage. Much like the musical backing, there isn’t a single wasted
or extraneous word in the song’s text and Kirbie makes as much as she can of
its brevity.
The same focus is in play through the
music. There’s a small plethora of instruments used to fully flesh out “Human”,
but they are expertly tied together in a melodic and highly musical dance that
captures the listener’s attention and never lets go. The atmospheric opening,
wide swinging drums with some tasty echo laid over their sound, sets an early
tone and nothing that follows indicates this interest in finding a strong
groove is misplaced. “Human” has a deep groove, but the melodic virtues
mentioned earlier gives the groove more meaning than it might otherwise
possess. The easy movement of the song suggests the performance is captured
live to recording, but even if this isn’t true, the fact they exhibit such
chemistry despite overdubbing suggests that this will be an amazing live
performance. Kirbie Rose Parker’s second album promises to far outstrip the
merits of her first impressive effort and the opening single brings that
promise into sharp focus.
Shannon Cowden
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