 Bellhouse
"Evolution O' Tha Lemon" CDR
Whirlygig
Records
Genres: indie pop, twee
Bellhouse
1935 Highway 106 N
Danielsville GA
30633
May 17 - 23 2004 |
Bellhouse is the solo project of Kimberly Paglia, one
half of husband-and-wife duo The Orchid Pool. Like her
previous indie pop work with her husband, Evolution O' Tha Lemon
is a personal, catchy pop album filled with cute vocals and simple,
pretty melodies. While this disc's songwriting is done
exclusively by Kimberly, she does enlist the help of others for
instrumental accompaniment; Tony Paglia helps out frequently,
contributing guitar, organ, piano, and vocal parts, among others.
While listening to this album for the first time, I could tell that
it would make for a surefire hit among twee lovers. There are
quite a few piano-based numbers here, as well as plenty of guitar and
organ led tracks. Kimberly's pretty, youthful vocals are
usually in the foreground, and the recording quality is distinctly
low. This is a very homemade affair, though the melodies are far
from primitive. The songwriting on Evolution is of a very
high talent level, and while those unaccustomed to the twee sound may
be put off by this disc's inoffensive nature, those with a proper
appreciation of lo-fi indie pop should be in euphoria while listening.
None of these tunes stand out among the others; instead they
are all of a consistently high quality. However, the disc's
length and unvarying style can make for limited repeated listens. Overall, this is a suggested purchase for twee and
indie pop lovers, but not really for anyone else. Worth a hum.
85%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 12 tracks, distributed by the
label, released 2003] |
