Christina Perri: Head to Heart

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Posted April 30, 2014 by in Pop
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Rating

Overall
 
 
 
 
 

3/ 5

Details

Genre:
 
Producer: , , , ,
 
Label:
 
 
 
 
Genre: Pop, Pop-rock, alt-rock
 
Producer: Jake Gosling, John Hill, Butch Walker, Martin Johnson, Jack Antonoff
 
Label: Atlantic
 
Format: Digital download, compact disc
 
Time: 49:53
 
Release Date: 1 April 2014
 
Spin This: "Burning Gold," "Human," "Be My Forever"
 

Pros:

"Melting Gold," stronger lyricism, a few new musical odysseys and a Ed Sheeran duet highlight the best of the disc
 

Cons:

Bombarded with heavy ballads
 

Sophomore disc from “Jar of Hearts” singer maintains slow balladry domination, sports the occasional standout

by J Matthew Cobb
Full Article

Sophomore disc from “Jar of Hearts” singer maintains slow balladry domination, sports the occasional standout 

The newest record from singer-songwriter Christina Perri since releasing the 2012 holiday disc shows an artist willing to make the casual walk into riskier territories. She still has her tranquil, AC-coaxed safe zones evidenced on the album opener “Trust” and symphonically arranged “Sea of Lovers, but the album supplies her with some very interesting head turners. The mightiest of them all is the John Hill/Butch Walker-produced “Burning Gold,” a radio magnet which burns with the iridescent glow of Adele piano pop and cranks out a melodious chorus that’s virtually impossible to shake off. “We’re starting fires until our lives are burning gold,” Perri sings around a cloudburst of rhythmic percussion as if she’s discovered something as transcendent as Cyndi Lauper karaoke. “Human,” another album spotlight, finds its synergy circulating the sweeping strings and the universal language of the lyrics (“But I’m only human/And I bleed when I fall down/I’m only human/And I crash and I break down.” Perri even turns up the sexy on “One Night,” where she coos “I’ll be the moon hanging over you/Spilling all over your body, covering all your wounds.” Her warm-hearted Valentine duet with Ed Sheeran on “Be My Forever” also gets its share of attention, especially as it flickers with lightweight folk vibes. But the album seems highly burdened with slow-paced New Age-anointed ballads and even lacks the balanced song craft and edge that turned Vanessa Carlton into a singer-songwriter pop star. Although she makes no serious leaps, Perri is still in good form and delivers an album that’s likable, far better than her debut LP Lovestrong. It’s just not the revolutionary album that she honestly deserves.


About the Author

J Matthew Cobb

Managing editor of HiFi Magazine

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