{"id":15348,"date":"2018-10-06T05:45:21","date_gmt":"2018-10-06T09:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=15348"},"modified":"2018-10-06T09:06:40","modified_gmt":"2018-10-06T13:06:40","slug":"ep-review-monique-angele-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/06\/ep-review-monique-angele-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"EP Review: Monique Angele \u2013 Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-15349\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/monique_angene.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/monique_angene.jpg 350w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/monique_angene-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/monique_angene-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>Australia-based singer-songwriter Monique Angele is from Canada; her performance schedule is neatly split between the two countries. Despite its name, this EP is a studio collection. It features Angele\u2019s gentle and expressive vocals atop uncluttered yet soaring arrangement full of piano and strings.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a strong melancholy feel to the string parts on \u201cPink Colored Sky,\u201d and it continues even when more conventionally rock-oriented instrumentation (drums, electric bass) enter the mix. Even when the music swells dramatically, Angele\u2019s voice soars above it all. \u201cI Want a World\u201d dials back the instruments, focusing mostly on piano and voice. But it showcases nearly as much power as the previous track; the stacked backing vocals add lovely texture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHold On\u2019 takes the arrangement values of those first two cuts and applies them to a more pop-centered style. But again, the vocals are the center of attention. \u201cOur Paradise\u201d returns to the wide-screen production style; it\u2019s faintly reminiscent of some of Kirsty MacColl\u2019s work. \u201cForever Strong\u201d is an uptempo number enlivened by a busy drum track and more thrush vocals. A brief spoken-word part feel a bit unnecessary, but it doesn\u2019t ruin the tune. \u201cRare Girl\u201d features the most complex and assured piano work on the collection.<\/p>\n<p>Verdict: expertly played and arranged, and the melodies are solid if unspectacular. But they needn\u2019t be, because Monique Angele\u2019s voice is the star here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia-based singer-songwriter Monique Angele is from Canada; her performance schedule is neatly split between the two countries. Despite its name, this EP is a studio collection. It features Angele\u2019s gentle [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,65],"tags":[3575],"class_list":["post-15348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-review","tag-monique-angele","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15350,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15348\/revisions\/15350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}