To date, New Yorker Risa Hall's main claim to fame is that she went to the same High School as Simon & Garfunkel and The Ramones. This album probably won't change that.
Having pursued a career in theatre and musicals, and raised a family in Northern England, she is now, at a guesstimate, in her mid-fifties.
Her debut album has therefore been a long time coming.
Inspired by British singers KT Tunstall and Nerina Pallot, Risa sat down with a guitar and wrote the ten tunes that make up the record.
Candy Coated Hell is the one that most obviously displays her love of old school punk but she doesn't confine herself to any particular style.
The ten self-penned tunes are described as 'eclectic' which is another way of saying that she doesn't really know which genre best suits her somewhat brash singing voice.
She has packed a lifetime's love of music into the project which is self financed and the album is produced by Nigel Stoner, who has also worked on albums with Thea Gilmore, Joan Baez and The Waterboys.
The solid, but largely uninspired, arrangements often seem to go off at a tangent to the vocals. For example, the inclusion of the flute (played by Laura Manship) was inspired by Risa's love of Steve Winwood and Traffic but sounds quite incongruous here.
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I would describe the music as commercial blues based pop with a few jazzed up undercurrents.
On Jazz Lullaby she sings "babe,don't you cry, 'cos your mamma will sing you a jazz lullably" which, frankly, would go down as a threat with most kids I know.
There are some bold brassy numbers too, like Shooting Stars and Second Chances which she sings in a raunchy showbiz manner.
Songs like these undoubtedly convey commitment but her voice, though gutsy, doesn't really have the range or emotional depth to match her enthusiasm.
Risa Hall on Myspace
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