Colleen Coadic
You Feel This Good LP
Colleen was born in Nova Scotia and brought up in a family of musicians, with a mother who sang, father who played bass for a band that practised in the living room, a self-taught accordion playing grandfather, and a grandmother who sang in French. It’s therefore, not surprising that Colleen is such a musical talent, in terms of songwriting, as well as her vocal and guitar contributions.
The ‘You Feel This Good’ album opens with the warm tones and social commentary of ‘Flatbelly’. This is a great indication of things to come, with a gentle build to a memorable chorus that certainly benefits from Colleen’s clear voice.
The record contains several other tracks along the lines of ‘Flatbelly’ such as ‘By the Time You Read This’ and ‘Hello, My Name is Poor Me’, which both mix the same sweet anthemic pop and rock with lyrics that are downbeat on paper but uplifting in the context of the songs.
Contrasting with these anthems, ‘Deeper Than Skin Deep’, ‘There’s a Hole’, and ‘Wicked Kate’ explore a darker tone with earthy guitars, some tribal rhythms, and a vocal that brings to mind a cross between Shania Twain and Alanis Morrisette. There is also an all out pop song in the form of ‘Better Than This’, which has moments of the Eurhythmics is the bouncy vocal line.
It is often the case that a solo artist will either attempt everything on their own, Billy Corgan style, or resort to sequencers to provide rhythm sections for their music. Colleen has sensibly opted for real life people, which has resulted in an album with a high degree of musical integrity – especially as Aaron Anderson on drums and Sean Cobb on bass and keyboards are obviously very talented themselves.
The songwriting, guitar, and vocal duties are all taken on by Colleen herself and although the first impressions of the songs are of sugary, hooky tunes with a huge chorus and strong melodies, it shouldn’t take anyone very long to realise that the lyrics are the still waters of this album.
Written by Fenton on
