Let In The Light

Shannon Wright is blessed with a melodic sensibility that is decidedly more sophisticated than many of her immediate contemporaries. After a few seconds of *Let In The Light*’s opening track, “Defy This Love” one might be tempted to dismiss Wright as another whispery-voiced piano balladeer, a Tori Amos for the indie set, but soon Wright’s hushed Satie-like piano runs, abstruse lyricism, and unconventional vocal melodies alert the listener that something more substantive is afoot. Indeed, *Let In the Light* sees Wright finally admitting to her melodic gifts. On previous releases she would indulge in scorched-earth blues and bursts of cathartic amelodicism as if self-consciously attempting to distance herself from the coffee-shop folk crowd that might otherwise attempt to claim her. But songs such as the gem-like “Louise” and the raga-ish “In the Morning” see Wright reconciled with her own melodic acumen. Clearly the experience has been a liberating one for Wright: *Let In The Light* fuses Brechtian Cabaret, dust-blown folk and strains of classical melodicism into what is undoubtedly Wright’s finest album to date.

On her latest Quarterstick release, this singer/songwriter's production skews twilight, the arrangements tend to be solo, and her lyrics bend towards the poetic and the metaphorical.