Snowcake, Lauren Passarelli (Feather Records)
Boston-based Lauren Passarelli is a multiple threat: a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer-songwriter, recording engineer, arranger, and producer, and a professor of guitar at Berklee College of Music. Lauren has a command of many musical idioms, and on her latest album, Snowcake, her versatility is showcased in songs drawing on pop, rock, blues, soul, and modern jazz, just for starters, and often mixed together in a single song. Passarelli puts equal care into her guitar playing, her vocals (and vocal harmonies), her melodies, her lyrics, and her groove-based arrangements, chock full of surprising twists and turns while never distracting from the overall flow of the songs.
At its heart, Snowcake is a soulful, pop-folk singer-songwriter album, full of catchy melodies and musical hooks, as funky and sophisticated as classic Steely Dan or Carole King. Passarelli could just as easily have made a guitar-centric album showing off her virtuosity on that instrument, but here the songs rule and the guitar parts (and her other instrumental contributions) always serve the songs. Most of all, Lauren Passarelli has excellent taste as a composer and instrumentalist. She doesn’t chase any of the latest trends or fads; this is brilliantly executed, entertaining, and thoughtful pop-folk music for the ages. ~ Seth Rogovoy