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Camp Susannah:
Happy Today
Camp Susannah is led by the beautiful voice of Susannah Blinkoff and an all-star band with varying musical backgrounds. The album is twelve tracks of primarily up-tempo pop tunes with clever lyrics yet somewhat dated music. The album opens with a remix Way OK, adding in some electronic atmospheric sounds and beats to the somber original that is only the voice of Susannah and a hand drum. The chorus to this song is just plain cheesy yet annoyingly catchy. Moving on to the title track, she starts out with a great line The only rainbow Ive ever seen/was in a puddle of gasoline. The song is a hopeful tune about being happy before its too late. There is really nothing standing out about this song, but it does display a little move away from the electronic opener. Susannah moves a little further with Talkin to Myself, and even though the lyrics are not as clever, it sounds like a song she wrote for someone else with her vocals shining over a nicely arranged musical background. Couldja Wouldja takes a sharp dive downward and the computerized vocal enhancements, similar to that used in Chers Believe, are just ridiculous. Even her lyrics are a disappointment compared to the rest of the album. With such examples as Couldja smoke just me and get high?/ Wouldja like to give it a try? The last half of the album is luckily better than the first. In one of the more radio-friendly songs, Somebody Somewhere, she produces a song with some country influence that sounds similar to Rilo Kileys Jenny Lewis. It really works for her. Another good one is Catch Me, which is a more bluesy style that usually doesnt do much for me, but I really like how her voice fits and the lyrics are clever and funny. We Were Gonna Be is a sad song about love lost with the great line, I guess I learned some lessons but/I dont know what they are/dont fall in love is all I got so far. Throughout this album, Susannah displays her vocal talents and flexibility with music that is meant more for the easy listening crowd. The original version of Way Ok, with just Susannah backed by a hand drum is really beautiful, and amazingly the chorus doesnt bother me as much in this version. Id like to see her explore styles that use unique but simple backing instruments, so as not to mask her voice as she did with Way Ok. I would also love to see her try something a little bit darker than the typical song on this album, because I know her voice would sparkle even without the light.
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