Posted on: July 19, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Amy Cook – The Sky Observer’s Guide / 2007 Root House / 10 Tracks / http//www.amycook.com / http://rroothouserecords.com /

“Coming Home (The Eclipse)” starts off in a slow style, the guitar being pretty much the only thing that bolsters Cook’s vocals. The vocals of Cook are nothing special, coming forth as somewhat poppy, somewhat rocky. The anemic flow of “Coming Home” means that the only thing individuals can really get behind is the dreamy interplay between the vocals and instrumentation at times. The track is a good introduction to Cook but does not give individuals much of a reason to keep a focus on eir. I’m sure individuals can still get behind Cook, but that is if “The Answer” is sufficiently exciting. “The Answer” has a more vocal focus to it than “Coming Home”, but the track sticks in the same slower style and influences that started out the disc.

The one thing that pushes “The Answer” further than “Coming Home” is that the hook that Cook places on the track is sufficiently catchy to bring and keep some listeners’ interested. Cook is still in a weak position, but is not as weak as ey was after the end of “Coming Home”. The first track that does not suffer under an anemic tempo or uninspired arrangements has to be “The Reveler’s Goodbye”. The insistent vocals of Cook during this track and the different sound of the guitars during the track provides individuals something new to latch on to, and if individuals have listened for that long, they will stick for quite a few more tracks after the minor success that Cook has with “The Reveler’s Goodbye”.

Any energy that Cook has worked up on “The Reveler’s Goodbye” is dissipated with the much more slow-paced and dragging “Where Do We Go?” I can’t understand the emotional gravity that is present on the track, but the weak effort put forth on the majority of tracks on the first segment of “The Sky Observer’s Guide” makes doing this track a mistake. Amy Cook has a tremendous voice, but it just seems that ey needs a little more in the way of experimental arrangements and different influences present. If this can happen, Cook will move beyond the weak efforts of “The Sky Observer’s Guide” and make a name for eirself. If this cannot happen, then Cook will fade into obscurity. Give this disc a go if one feels as if Cook will be able to innovate and change eir sound, to give oneself a good guideline for how ey used to sound. If this is not the case, avoid the disc.

Top Tracks: Sunshine, The Reveler’s Goodbye

Rating: 3.0/10

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