Album Details

• Artist: Kate Earl
• Album: Kate Earl
• Label: Universal Republic
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: carlita on 2012-08-30

Media

Reading Kate Earl's biography detailing the perseverance she received from her Dutch/Welsh father who built their family gas station in Alaska "with his own hands" and her Filipina mother "who walked miles in the rain to go to school", was plenty motivation for me to check out Kate Earl's self-titled sophomore album today. Released in 2009 as we were experiencing a 60's British modern twist on retro soul resurgence in pop, she would have fit into this wave very well. It's not just 60's influenced, there's modern day Feist, A Fine Frenzy, Norah Jones, Lily Allen with a pinch of 80's Tiffany and Debbie Gibson (especially on similarly titled "Only In Dreams") too.

This record has the type of songs that could be played 40 times a day on the radio and will get stuck in your head soon afterwards like "Melody", "Jump" and "Learning to Fly".  Relationships are on the menu like any good pop record but without the co-dependent whining you might find on others. She wants an equal and not someone who will take her for granted because "you can't treat her that way". There's a light, airy West Coast quality to songs like "All I Want" and "When You're Ready", like you'd be cruising on the Pacific Coast highway in LA listening to this, right by the beach much like Colbie Caillat's "Coco" might have made you do two years before. Adding an interesting texture, there are some dance/techno elements that bring a harder edge to some of the softer pop songs on the album.  Decently catchy at times, my head did indeed "nod to the boom boom beat".

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