Review - Lynda Wehipeihana "Larger Than Life"
album through My Label
Lynda Wehipeihana has been doing her thing for not a short while on the local music scene, with many a Songsalive! night featuring a tune or two of hers in the set as well as an outstanding contribution to their last Sampler. But finally she appears to the world under her own banner on "Larger Than Life" through My Label.
Lynda's style is straight-up nouveau-jazz, sitting quite comfortably on rotation at either 2CCR, 2NSB or even MIX with plenty of brass, synth- and real strings. With the music comes plenty of that which many artists experience in the lead up to and the making of such a record: love, pain, joy, affirmation; through both the originals and standards, Lynda quite easily conveys all that has made who she is and what this album has become.
From the a capella choir reading of Amazing Grace (which I actually found lacking in traditional gospel vibrato and projection) through the top-class production on Turn Your Love Around and her own Free Ride, the music is just as impressive as the credits. Phil Ceberano, Studios 301, The Sydney Opera House, Mark Williams, Sydney’s Skylab Studios - with such names on an early venture you can imagine what is to come on future releases!
I felt, however, a slight depression from tracks 4-7 (including Throw Your Arms Around Me) tempo-wise, but seeing her perform live I left the record on, knowing it was going to get better. And it did! Lynda Wehipeihana "Larger Than Life" is highly recommended to listeners of the aforementioned radio stations, and it appears addition has already happened on one of them! Well done, Lynda!