Andrea Nardello
Primary URL: https://www.andreanardello.com/
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Andrea Nardello was sidelined by writer’s block for two years before a simple love song she wrote for her girlfriend heralded a new era of emboldened self-identity and reinvigorated creativity. Andrea wrote a song a week for a year, demoed 20 songs, and picked the strongest seven for “Echo.”
Andrea has garnered favorable comparisons to Melissa Etheridge and Shawn Colvin for her gift for melding pop songwriting smarts with a confessional and literate songwriting style which often explores relationships, romance, and family life. Her refined accessibility draws from folk, rock, soul, and even the swagger of hip-hop. She’s built a respectable indie artist profile through DIY ethics and tireless touring.
The EP glows with her dreamy folk sensibility accented by tasteful musical flourishes like organ and rootsy electric guitar filigree. Starting off with Beautiful Girls, the CD gets underway showing the stripped-back side to her songwriting which is only half heard but well placed throughout the mix. But I think the following track, One Good Reason Why, is the more captivating of the two with it edging the opener for me as the better track. This didn’t come immediately though, as it took several times to arrive at this being most likely the best song for my taste here. But on I Am The Water she shows another side altogether with an epic pop laden song which is the last thing you’d expect after the feather lightness of the previous tracks. This is an awesome cut that should entice any and every radio ear it comes in contact with, resulting in a force to reckon with. This is awesome in every way possible. It takes you way up over that hill where it all seems to effortlessly come together. And once this song is heard the songwriting quality and vocal performance gets easier to pick up on. This brings it to Back Where We Started, another superb track that helps mark this great release with a simple but strikingly effective modern cover art. A few of the songs could benefit from being a little longer but it doesn’t ruin a great thing.
On tracks like Why Can’t You Be Happy you can tell there is quite a lot of energy waiting to come out of Andrea Nardello, as well as a sense of humor detected in the lyrics that hint at more upbeat songs to come, hopefully resulting in a full album of songs along the same lines as to be found on “Echo,” which comes highly recommended.
Larry Toering
Score: 9.5/10