Violins. Blondshell

Blondshell or Sabrina Teitelbaum as she is known to inner friends and family, can be found on this blog for a few years now and returns with her third album, Violins. In a review I've read this week, the writer felt the need to mention everything that Blondhell is not on this album. The need was caused by the accompanying bio. He could not agree with nor relate to the content. This is the reason I tend to avoid a bio as a rule, a rule which I sometimes break, for example to find practical information like who is the extra singer or the bass player?

In other words, I am usually able to listen to the music with a fresh and open mind. Listening to Violins taught me that on Violins Blondshell operates somewhere in between rock and pop and that in some songs the volume knobs were allowed to be switched to (much) louder. In (parts of) others they were not and you can even find the odd pop ballad on the album.

The result is a varied album containing songs worthwhile to get to know better. Violins offers songs that alternatively rock and in several cases sparkle. Sabrina Teitelbaum is like a fish in water in these songs. She is on top of her songs and this makes her voice shine in all the songs. In the louder ones and in the few softer ones. Her voice surfs comfortably over the high waves the guitars and rest produce. At times she sounds a little bored or resigned. The music makes clear she is not as it is often urgent and full of interesting outbursts and accents. It's just the way her voice sounds and not disinterest in her own music.

Then listen to 'Reinstall' toward the end of Violins. There you can hear what she is able to do with her voice. Double tracking it in different tones. The song is not the best on the album but vocally is does stand out fully, making it better and better. The album ends with the single 'Fur Elise'. The albums final song shows how Blondshell can go from small to huge within a few minutes and convince in both. That is the reason why I do not agree with said writer on dissing the bio. Who cares what it says in there as long as the album itself convinces. In my opinion it does and that is what counts here and in music generally speaking.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Violins here:

https://blondshell.bandcamp.com/album/violins