I am a music lover, I always have been, I make no claims of expertise, I do however have over 1000 CDs. I am never far away from music, I probably listen to music 12 or more hours a day, at work, in the car, at home, everywhere. Most of my CDs are ripped to mp3 so I can listen to them at will while chatting, or working on the computer. In short, I am a Music Geek :).
My first exposure to Nushu occured because Nushu member Lisa Mychols is participating in the Jan Berry/Jan And Dean Tribute CD project, they put up a rough cut of her cover of "It's As Easy As 1, 2, 3" in their MySpace profile. As a result I added Lisa as a MySpace friend, and listened to one of her profile songs, "Listen To The Bells" which is a GREAT Christmas song, which sounds like it was produced by Phil Specter or Brian Wilson. It sounds like it was transported straight out of the 60s, many of Lisa's songs are evocative of that "good feeling" era of music. Well, after two songs, I was hooked, I dug the sound man, just dug it. Lisa referenced Nushu on her MySpace profile, so it was a short hop to Nushu's profile, and two more awesome songs, "PopSound", and "She Said". Well, if I was hooked before, after "PopSound", and "She Said" I was reeled in, and landed. To say I eagerly awaited the release of "nevermind lullabye" Nushu's debut CD would be an understatement. I _really_ wanted more!
I pulled the CD out of the mailbox this past Friday when I got home from work, and imediately began listening. Normally I will like 3 or maybe 4 songs on a CD and pretty much ignore the rest. It's very rare in my experiance to find a debut CD for a group with more than half its songs of a quality that I would listen more than a few times to them. Of the 11 tracks on "nevermind lullabye" I enjoy 9 of them, and 6 of them will be added to my favorites playlists. I can't say that I dislike the other two tracks, but they just do not capture me the way the other nine tracks do.
Having heard "PopSound", and "She Said" prior to getting the CD, I was very impressed with the diversity of the tracks that I found on "nevermind lullabye". While "PopSound", and "She Said" sound somewhat similar to my ear, the other songs on the CD are really more varied, which is very refreshing. So often a debut CD or even a CD released by a long established group will sound like 10 songs cut from the same mold (and thus somewhat moldy), this is NOT the case with Nushu's "nevermind lullabye".
The other observation I immediately made is that Nushu's music is very "tight", and professional. Often debut CDs will have songs that seem to vary wildly in their production, some gems, and some filler. All of the songs on "nevermind lullabye" sound like they were produced by a group that had been working together professionally for decades. It is amazing that 3 people, Nushu members Hillary Burton, Lisa Mychols, and co producer (and sometimes contributing artist) Steve Refling, crafted "nevermind lullabye", and got it so "right".
Also refreshing is the fact that all the songs on the CD were written by Lisa, and/or Hillary, with Steve also credited on two of the songs. These songs are straight from their hearts, and minds to us, by way of their guitars (named "Angie", and "Mean Mustard") with some drums, and cowbell tossed in for good measure.
Rather than describe all 11 tracks, I will cover my favorites, you can listen to "PopSound" and "She Said" in full on Nushu's MySpace profile, and on thier web site's store you can hear samples from all of the songs.
So here are my favorites:
Reach For Me (Writer/Lead Singer: Hillary) - This song, which is my favorite on "nevermind lullabye", just touches something deep inside me. It takes me to a place simlar to where "California Dreaming", and "The Warmth Of The Sun" take me. Thank you Hillary.
PopSound (Writers Lisa/Hillary, Lead Singer: Lisa) - "PopSound", is like Catnip, its addictive. Its a wall of pop sound. I can't listen to it without both feet moving along. I would guess that it would be the first song released as a single, it should appeal to virtually everyone.
She Said (Writers Lisa/Steve, Lead Singer: Lisa) - I can not listen to this song without singing along, actually that is true of most of the songs on "nevermind lullabye", but "She Said" just carries me along.
Need To Be (Writer/Lead Singer: Hillary) - Like "Reach For Me", "Need To Be" is a much more emotionally moving song than the more upbeat tracks on "nevermind lullabye" in a way, perhaps, it shows us Nushu's more serious side.
Alexander Zabriel (Writer/Lead Singer: Lisa) - Ok, this one is "straight from de islands mon". It's pure Carribean sunshine, complete with steel drums. I can't stop, I can't stop, I can't stop, listening to it.
Ageless (Writer/Lead Singer: Lisa) - This song is, wistfully mellow. It sneaks up on you, at first listen of the CD I was not totally moved by it, but after 2 listens of the CD, I found myself humming it hours later.
Visit www.nushumusic.com and click on Enter, then click on Store.
You will find a list of playable samples of the tracks on the CD and options to buy.