Skipping Stone EP Review — The Ryder
This review of “Skipping Stone” is written by a friend of the site named Charles Ryder. At the Source you’ll find links to the EP songs you can listen as you read his review.
Yes ladies and gentlemen, yes; Alexz Johnson is back with a small but outstanding bunch of new tracks in her brand new EP Skipping Stone in which, once again, she demonstrates why she is here to stay. This new collection of songs does not only reflect the musical growth she has experienced since her 2010 release Voodoo, but also that she can experience with many styles, sounds and rhythms foreshadowing a guaranteed success.
The whole project is embodied with exotic fusions, raw emotions, burning love, all combined with Johnson’s distinctive singing style. As it has happened with her previous material, every single track in this EP follows a line, a certain pattern, but in a different way, which turns it into a must-have musical jewel. Let us take a quick look to these new creations.
The EP opens with the most catchy track, Give Me Fire, which sets the whole theme for the project but at the same time, distances itself by the way it portrays it. Johnson’s exquisite prounciation develops into a powerfully seductive plead that melts the listener just as she does throughout the whole song. When I kiss your lips, we’re touching finger tips, my stomach starts to flip, I’m ignited, this is it. It recalls those attractive falling-in-love moments we all have experienced: the will to surrender everything in order to taste a bit of that fire. It would work perfectly as single; besides, it stands out among the collection because of Johnson’s new vocabulary, which we are not used to hear in her music but plays terrificly.
The second track is Walking, which goes into a completely opposite direction fom the previous song. Johnson’s voice becomes a window, a garden where we feel that strange sensation of being left alone on a road, which is full of a resigned optimism. But I can’t stay with you, but I’ll miss you, soles on fire, I can’t see through, all the smokey, smoking higher, my feet won’t bring me to you. The tracks is driven by a nostalgic guitar that later develops into a calm, soft beat. Chosen as the second single of the EP, it also give a shot of Johnson’s flexible vocal ability.
Another shift and we face the smooth seduction of Pleased to Meet You, a song that introduces a soft, bar-like style, perfect for an intimate dance in the dark. Johnson’s voice acquires an incredibly sexy tone as she whispers to the angels all her expectations: But hold on, it isn’t over here, the sun isn’t awake my dear, we’re feeling higher than a rocket ship, I push you over when I dip my hip. It’d be another perfect choice for a single, as well as a detonator for more sensual tracks to come.
The fourth track arrives under the name of Thief, and by this time, it is possible that your musical soul has already been stolen by Johnson’s unique material. It is another song driven by guitars, in which the singer tells about she let someone enter and take everything away: I, didn’t want him to see me cry, but every word became a lie, when only he can read my mind, his every touch is like a crime. It is a track with a very unusual beat an at first, it might be a bit hard to get along with it; its well built fast pace gives the impression of swiftness usually experienced after a heart robbery.
The title track is also the last one of the EP, perfect for a closure marked with sadness, pain and resignation. Skipping Stoneshowcases Johnson’s voice at its best, as the expression of a burning wound which drags its heart out in order to convince itself of something. Never knew that you, could just hold me hostage, I’m losing my cool, through the pain somehow, don’t want you to stop it. It renders powerful end the EP and a the same time, to a love that mght had started with the first track, thus, creating a kind of cycle between all the songs, al of them portraying different aspects of a relationship. Johnson manage to share her pain through her impeccable performance, leaving us with the sad feeling of being transformed into stones thrown to the river.
Undoubtedly, is is Alexz Johnson’s best material so far, and she has proved she has the enormous gift of evolving and experimenting with many types of musical productions, by always staying true to herself. This EP demonstrates that, though it might not be the kind of music expected to be on the radio, it clearly overcomes all expectations by being an honest, personal production. From the epic violin beats of her masterpiece Weight, going through the indie mystical sounds of Voodoo, Alexz Johnson arrives with this new set of songs, mastered by acoustic emotions.
The EP is now available on iTunes, Amazon and her official web.
For more on Alexz Johnson, check out:
Alexz Johnson Official Site: www.alexzjohnson.com
Official MySpace: www.myspace.com/alexzjohnson
Official Twitter Account: www.twitter.com/alexzjohnson
Alexz Johnson Island: www.alexz.net
Alexz Johnson France: www.alexz-johnson.org
Link to the Official Store in all the web pages.
