Your musical roots stay with you, but if you really want to develop your art, you can mostly go two ways – explore those roots to their true depths or add something new to them. Or you can do both. And that is exactly the way Louisiana singer/songwriter Renée Reed took on her self-titled debut album.
The first things that often come to mind when Louisiana music is mentioned are cajun music and Mardi Gras. Reed obviously has both in her musical roots, and she doesn’t shy away from them. She cherishes them and tries to see (hear) how far do they stretch (“Drunken Widow’s Waltz”).
But, then, she also cherishes all things folk and singer/songwriter. After all, she did attend the masterclasses British folk legend Richard Thompson held in Catskill mountains. And tracks like “I Saw A Ghost” and “Little Flower Dance” exude all the best of sixties-style folk that Reed’s voice and acoustic guitar can carry.
Reed doesn’t end her musical explorations there, she shows a knack for French pop exemplified in the likes of Françoise Hardy and Serge Gainsbourg, possibly a perfect place to start (“Ou est la fee”).
And it is an indeed satisfying musical breed, with Reed’s excellent vocal capabilities leading the proceedings here. Having in mind that this is only her debut, Reed shows more than just a promise on her debut. It is an excellent album that fully displays her massive potential as an artist.
