Sound: 01. According To You: starts out like any Avril Lavigne, chick punk rock song, she starts singing and it sounds good, singing about the angst of her relationship, and just when you start wondering why this is something famous...BAM!! Giant lead lick. The song has singing that is typical for the chick rock genre, but the occasional lead lick will keep any shred-head interested throughout the song, and then the solo is just a solid piece of guitar ending with some nice two-handed tapping. 7-8 (I am the typical shred head),
02. Suffocated: interesting into on this one...quiet and restrained, then the melody swells into a lead lick and solid higher range note on the voice leading to a driving almost ballad-like chorus, that is just plain awesome mixed with some sick lead playing. Short bridge in the song, and it's interesting nothing typical or ordinary, I very much like this song, and the chorus with the lead parts sounds just pretty damn awesome. 8
03. Bad News: another hard rock song mixed with a few pop sensibilities, mostly uneventful but there are some memorable moments, but the gems are in the subtleties, listening in the texture the guitars there are some nice little easter eggs hidden under the lead melodies. 7
04. Believe: first piano I've heard on this album starts this song. This song seems relaxing and laid back, it's just a nice sit back and nap to song. I quite enjoy it, it's not a "holy crap!!" or, "did you hear that?!" Just simple, easy, and laidback. 7
05. Feels Like Home: this song starts out in Woman Tone (what Slash used on SCOM, and Eric Clapton makes extensive use of), and it's very sensible sounding. Another, "let's chillax and be friends" song, reminds me a little of the song before this. But it sounds good, almost a country vibe to it, but not to the point where you're crying because you lost a dog that you've never had :S. I really love this outro, one of the best guitar licks in the world, just leads it into the acoustic ending. 8
06. Think Like A Man: Gretchen Wilson in-you're-face-ness, and AC/DCish guitar intro make this song quite likable (I almost wrote lickable there), but this is just a good hard rock song with some great blues licks, that I like to lichen a bit to Slash, it just sounds fantastic. One of my favorite songs on the album, the bridge gets a little more major keyed, and I really quite like this solo it really makes me think of old school GN'R.9
07. What's It Gonna Be: sweet drums intro, and this is a b**chin' riff. Just an upbeat catchy song with complimentary singing but a really rock n' roll vibe to this one. Just a sweet rock and roll song, another good one of the album. 9
08. Untogether: this is where the album starts getting quite bluesy, and I've gotta say, I love it. If there's one guitar style I love more than shred it's blues. And she's got the right idea with it, it even has a nice organ in the background just a poppy song with blues guitar that makes you just wanna sing out loud. The solo is a bit fast picked for my tastes but mostly keeps with the laid-back soul/blues approach, just keeps you happy. 8
09. Drive Away: now this lick is 100% blues. It's just a fantastic start to a fantastic song. Kind of a poppy chorus but the licks throughout just make you wish you had her skills and tone, because she can out blue any guitarist I've ever known. The chorus in this song may be old hat in pop/rock, but the way she infuses her extraordinary blues into this just makes this song stick out and it's probably my favorite on this album, just a well rounded song. 9.5
10. Highly Strung: HOLY *HI*! IT'S A SONG WITH STEVE VAI! That's right she shared the stage with this legend when she was in her teens. This song is instrumental and features duals between Ori and Vai, some of the licks seem standard, the "chorus lick" is fairly standard but this song has some AWESOME playing on it, and it's what the guitar heads like me cream ourselves over. 9
11. God Only Knows: pretty acoustic ballade intro, very simple soft sounding electric. This song just strikes me a closing track immediately, it feels like she's trying to say good-bye to us with this last song. I am a man, and a manly man at that, but this song has the emotion you want to hear for a song about losing a loved one, it makes you feel like you want more, it's sad, but at the same time gives you a little peace. It's like getting closure after the end of a good relationship. Excellent translation of emotion into this one. 9 // 9
Lyrics and Singing: Okay, this is a pop/punk song, and a pop/punk album so it's got a lot of emotional and relationshippy stuff, plus she's a woman and you know how emotional they are(am I right men? :P)* *That was a joke, don't hunt me down and/or kill me.
01. According To You: this is a song about how she's got a man, who "be trippin'" and he basically says that she's a piece of crap and she's lucky to have him and blah blah blah he's better than her. And how there's another guy who actually knows how to talk to women and says she's the best thing ever, and how she goes from the douche to the chivalrous gentleman on his steed. Pretty standard stuff on this one. 6
02. Suffocated: and the lyrical dark ages have passed, this song, when you read the lyrics comes off as a poem, and it's got good rhyme and a solid meter without the music, and they are quite interesting lyrics, I recommend taking a few moments to ponder them, my interpretation on them is she's sick of where she is and she is bored with her "crew" and needs a change to mix things up, but the heavy words like "suffocated" and "devastated" make me wonder what else is there, but that's all speculation, read in what you will. 8
03. Bad News: MORE RELATIONSHIP STUFF! Another breakup actually, sad ending apparently. But yes, it's basically how she's like don't lead me on, man. Just say what you gotta say so I can move on and no longer fake my orgasms (that was another joke). 6
04. Believe: BREAKUP AGAIN! Love is a b**** apparently. But this song read something like, I thought we had something quite intensely awesome, but you dumped me, and I have trust issues, something along those lines. 6
05. Feels Like Home: something new. How refreshing, this one is about moving to Cali for a new start, and about how in order to succeed you need to step out of your safety circle and take risks. Decent lyrical writing but reminiscent to any of the other millions of bands praising California. 7
06. Think Like A Man: more relationship lyrics but with a twist! Basically she's talking about how estrogen makes your life 18 times more painful. And how she wishes she acted like the guys who don't empathize or really express any emotion, it's more of a women's song, but it's one with some pretty biting sarcasm that in several ways can hit home for those of us with a Y Chromosome, though I'm sure most of us will just laugh it off, good words in this one. 9
07. What's It Gonna Be: BAHAHAHA! I like this one. It's about those guys that break up with a girl, saying that they need their space, but call them and say they need you, and it's more of a make up your damn mind song, kind of entertaining if I say so myself.
08. Untogether: this was not quite about what I expected. I expected it to be about another breakup, but rather this one was more about how the guy she's with can't get his act together and is immature, unaware, and unwilling to change, Still relationshippy, but not as stereotypical as I had expected.
09. Drive Away: we're soul mates, I love you, I'm a filthy sap, basically old hat. Cute and romantic for those of you with the romance disorder, but for others' a distraction from the guitar.
10. Highly Strung: NO LYRICS, JUST GUITAR WITH A F*** YOU, I WIN ATTITUDE! By the way, on this song, Ori's part is on the right speaker, while Vai's plays through the left.
11. God Only Knows: I once moved away to a town, and dated a girl for a long time there, only to move away a year later, and I kind of left in a bad time, it left her with no closure or anything, she just felt like she'd had something great and then it was gone, and that's kind of what this song is about, it's about desiring that which you had had, but coming to terms with it despite how much it might suck. 8 // 7
Impression: This girl has shared the stage with Carlos Santana and Steve Vai. She was even supposed to play guitar for Michel Jackson's This Is It tour. She is, first and foremost, a guitarist, and she is so damn good at what she does. That is the highlight of this album is the phenomenal technique and tone this young woman possess. Now she may lack lyrically, but she has a solid voice that delivers for the music she writes. She really does shine at times with the lyrics, but this is her first album and she is only in her early 20's. She is going to be a force someday, whether it be in the mainstream or at NAMM. This beautiful, talented young woman will find a way into your heart. This album is worth the buy for the emotion the guitar conveys on it's own, plus she's got a soothing voice. This is a great album mainly for the way it expresses with the instrumentation, and that alone makes it worth the buy. So yes, I would buy it again were it stolen. // 8
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