POP/ROCK
V.V. Brown, "Travelling Like the Light" (Capitol)
The first track on Brown's debut is "Quick Fix," and that turns out to be something of a watchword for this young English retro-soul singer. Brown figures the best way to differentiate herself from the likes of Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Adele is to keep her music moving at a breakneck pace; she waits until she's halfway through the aptly titled CD before slowing the tempo to a groove that might be described as ballad-ready. The result is a smart, sharp little sugar high, with Brown working her slightly scuffed vocals over zippy, high-gloss arrangements loaded with ear-candy detail. Perhaps inevitably, she relaxes her grip toward the end of the album for a few supper-club slow jams. But even when her material blands out, there's a fresh-faced charm to Brown's delivery that sets her apart from the vintage-vinyl pack. She's the rare retro-soulster unafraid to act her age.
MIKAEL WOOD, LOS ANGELES TIMES
Allison Moorer, "Crows" (Ryko)
Moorer is wrestling with how to find some sort of acceptance of life's dark side. She and big sister Shelby Lynne were orphaned as children when their father killed their mother and then himself. Her honesty in exploring the underpinnings of depression reveals the potential for liberation in facing one's demons. That process allows her to savor the sweet moments she celebrates in "Easy in the Summertime." Producer R.S. Field goes for sonic atmospherics that ideally frame her songs, from the broken-love grandeur for "Goodbye to the Ground" to the flamenco-folk drama of "Just Another Fool." "The Stars and I (Mama's Song)" is a poetically compact expression of love. In the one song she didn't write, she sings "It's Gonna Feel Good (When It Stops Hurting)." Wringing beauty from her pain, Moorer creates music that illustrates an age-old truism: Without sorrow, there is no joy.
RANDY LEWIS, LOS ANGELES TIMES
