With the release of her debut album, The Spirit Room, newcomer Michelle Branch strongly contributes to the renaissance of American rock music.
While listening to the tone of Branch's voice on the opening track, "Everywhere," I thought that this album would just be another Alanis Morisette rip-off. Fortunately, this was only my first impression of the song.
Throughout the 11 songs featured on The Spirit Room, Branch clearly develops her own style and vision of what American pop-rock should sound like. The young singer/songwriter names Robert Plant, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles as her major sources of influence.
"Once you write a song, it's really personal," she said in her press release. "The song is your baby; you watch it grow, and then you let it go."
Besides her own qualities as a songwriter, producer John Shanks, who has worked with such acts as Chris Isaak, Melissa Etheridge, SR-71 and BB Mak, is mostly responsible for the good production work and the powerful arrangements on The Spirit Room.
Branch's album presents the listener with a stylistic variety of rock songs such as "You Set Me Free," "Here with Me" and "I'd Rather be in Love," all of which have potential to receive frequent radio airplay.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Fortunately, Branch can do without the cheesy, Mr. Big-style rock ballads. Even slower songs such as "Goodbye To You," or "Drop In The Ocean" contain a certain amount of power owing to her energetic and remarkable voice.
Emotionally intense and honest lyrics are important to Branch's music. "I want to be able to speak truth and make a difference," she said.
Her lyrics, of course, leave space for individual interpretation.
Thematically speaking, The Spirit Room centers around the most frequently used topic of literature and songwriting: love. "Even though you can't see it or grasp it," Branch remarks, "Most people know love is out there."
In "Everywhere" she embraces the positive emotions related to love with lyrics such as, "'Cause you're/ everywhere to me/ and when I close my eyes/ it's you I see/ you're everything/ I know that makes me believe/ I'm not alone/ 'cause you're/ everywhere to me."
But she does not fail to also cast light on the sadness and pain that can be inflicted by love, as in "Goodbye to You," for example. The combination of personal feelings and statements inscribed into her lyrics, as well as her sensitive vocals, serve well to make her music highly accessible to the listener.
Michelle Branch has definitely not reinvented rock music, but she has clearly shown that the genre still exists in the early 21st century.
In these times of Limp Bizkit, Blink 182 and Linkin' Park, she is a pronounced rock musician dedicated to her mission to inspire more young people to make music.
