| Ingrid
Michaelson a songsmith of crafty, challenging pop
By Jon Jacobs
January 23 2008 | For those of you
who joined the other 38 million viewers in watching
the 2006 season finale of Grey's Anatomy, you
may have picked up on the tune Keep Breathing
that played during the closing sequences. The song,
written especially for the finale, was actually the
fourth track the sitcom had featured from singer/songwriter
Ingrid Michaelson.
In the weeks following the finale
Michaelson would be featured as an up-and-coming artist
on stations such as MTV and VH1, as well as on spots
for Old Navy commercials. As sales of her independently
recorded and released album Girls and Boys
increased beyond anything her label had anticipated,
one thing was becoming clear: Grey's Anatomy
had made Ingrid Michaelson a household name.
As with all indie-rocker-gone-stage-stars, major labels
picked up on the success of Michaelson's then year old
album, seeking a share in the growing market of her
music. In a truly "indie" move, Michaelson
opted to maintain her own label as the proprietor and
owner of the music, while using the publishing company,
RED Distribution to distribute her music to a larger
audience.
Considering the vast number of artists that are featured
on television shows that reach popularity, and the subsequently
horrid music they go on to produce, the very fact that
Girls and Boys doesn't suck is very nearly
a miracle in and of itself. The album kicks off with
Die Alone, a near-dissonant combination of
vocal melody and crunched guitars that call to mind
modern artists such as KT Tunstall and Amy Winehouse.
Challenging pop music in today's world? In short, yes.
The album shifts direction with Breakable,
a piano structured track that lacks all of the confidence
and puissance of the previous tracks as she sings, "We
are so fragile and our cracking bones make noise and
we are just breakable, breakable, breakable girls and
boys." Though lyrics detailing the fragility of
love and human nature have been written countless times
by just about every emo band you can think of, very
rarely are they delivered with such moving and immediate
prudency.
Unsurprisingly, Girls and Boys has its fair
share of love songs, some of which are actually very
– dare I say - cute. The first single, and possibly
the catchiest track on the album, The Way I Am could
very easily find its way onto a "NOW, that's what
I call Music" compilation with lyrics such as "If
you were falling than I would catch you. You need a
light? I'd find a match. Cause I love the way you say
'good morning,' and You take me the way I am:"
Both adorable and yes, actually very musically rewarding.
Herein lies the secret to Michaelson's music; she drapes
her often-arduous vocal melodies in sweet butter-pop
production and song structure. Think Regina Spektor,
but laced with guitars and modern post-production, mimicking
the bizarre and juxtaposed nature of her music, but
in a slightly calmer and more accessible setting. And,
like Spektor, the pay-off is extremely edifying.
Taken as a whole, Girls and Boys is a very
enthralling debut, with some moments of authentic ingenuity.
Her songs are enjoyable, but not in the ten-listens-and-you're-done
sort of way that most modern pop music tends to follow.
Even after repeated listens, the songs sound new and
fresh each time, yielding another vocal or piano line
that you could have sworn wasn't there before.
If you can get over the peculiar structure of the music,
Girls and Boys is a brilliant piece of work.
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