Vonda Shepard
Album: Rookie
Label: Hotelie
Tracks: 9
Website: http://www.vondashepard.com

The one-time MD of hit TV series Ally McBeal (she wrote the theme song, appeared in every episode and produced music throughout its five-season run) Vonda Shepard also has a proven track record in her own right.

Rookie is her 14th album. Funded through Kickstarter, it's had $35,000 spent on its nine tracks - a couple of bonus live tracks from previous album From The Sun make up the track count to 11 - which is fine in as much as we can only assume that's all she had to say.

Established fans will probably find access through the path of least resistance, that is the proliferation of piano ballads in the second half - particularly her tour de force performance on Long For Days, which would most likely have closed side one if this had been a vinyl record.

The title track aside - an ersatz Tina Turner workout that doesn't become Shepard's obvious skill as a writer - the rest of the album finds her dipping into the Aretha Franklin/Janis Joplin book of vocal inflections. It could have been a disaster, but Shepard has the chops and, more importantly, the feel to make the exercise utterly convincing. Less is more in these matters and she wisely opts for restraint rather than the full-on roar that vocal contest singers are so fond of.

The up shot is that songs like Need Your Love and the gospel-flecked closer Tell My Body pack a soulful punch that's born of experience not mimickry.

Nick Churchill
www.thegranvillechambers.co.uk