Joana Serrat is a young singer songwriter who grew up in Barcelona with musical dreams of the American heartland. Her debut album has 12 short songs with a playing time of just 33 minutes.
Odes to climatic conditions and natural beauty stand as metaphors for changing moods of love but they are both brief and insubstantial. "I woke up in the rain" she sings at the start of Stop Feelin' Blue and in the next song, So Clear begins "I woke up in the morning".
The rich production of Canadian producer Howard Bilerman is impeccable but ,while there's a nice breathy intimacy to her voice, the banality of the lyrics cannot be hidden behind the lush arrangements.
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Serrat has eliminated her Spanish accent but still mostly sounds like a gifted language student rather than someone who is singing from the heart. Although I can understand her fascination with Americana it's a shame that she has abandoned her native tongue so completely.
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