"Carla Lynne Hall is like your cool aunt that gives you
the real deal about the music business."
Darrell McNeill,
Executive Director, Black Rock Coalition
It says on her website (carlalynnhall.com) that she is a D.I.Y. Diva or better known as a Do It Yourselfer. I like the way the cover art on her latest album, Super Nova, coveys this attitude, pointing to you, pointing to me, telling us both to stop and listen for she knows what she is doing.
D.Y.I. lends me to believe that Hall is prepared to do most of the heavy lifting. After all she’s worked for E.M.I. She even has a website called rockstarlifelessons.com in which she offers workshops on how to navigate the music industry. So making an album should be no trouble.
I read a couple of reviews comparing Hall to Norah Jones, Sade and India.Aire. I personally don’t think she does, but only as a compliment. I think any D.I.Y. shouldn’t fly too close to coattails. Besides, I like Hall’s warm, expansive delivery. I don’t necessarily want to use the term maternal or sisterly, but there is a female kinship in her voice that sounds inviting.
When it comes to the songs, Hall takes us through a number of genres: pop, soul, blues & even country. Some songs are hybrids. There’s even an interesting juxtaposition between the sixth tract, “Left Side Blues”, a saucy blues song about a woman up to no good, and the following tract “My First Child,” an earnest love ballad whole heartily in a country vein. It makes you wonder what happened to Hall in between the two tracts.
My favorite tract is “Pulling Me back,” a cool, fatalistic
love song. I really like the interplay
between Hall and Pam Fleming on trumpet, the overlapping voices and trumpet
responses building, layering; making a sensuous sound.
