There are times when you buy an album not knowing what to expect, then there are times when you buy albums you expect to be brilliant that end up terrible, but then there are ones that you just don’t want to give a bad review for one of many reasons - maybe you know the singer, or perhaps your lover/partner/best friend is mad about the artist or perhaps everybody but you love the album.

With ‘The Spirit Room’ I fell into one of the above categories, luckily however I don’t have to give it a bad review, not since I heard Dido’s debut Solo album have I been so blown away by a female vocalist’s album, the strength in the voice, the maeningfulness of the lyrics and the genuine feeling you get when you hear it for the first time, if I didn’t know better I’d say that Michelle was miming to a more mature artists voice - but she isn’t.

A little bit of background on Michelle though, even to this day she’s only 19 but she already has 2 albums under her belt, a record contract with Maverick (Madonna’s label) and a spangling future ahead of her, ever since the age of 14 when she first got her guitar she's been creating music that made people all around her feel inspired and emotionally high.

As she got older she finally decided that she had to get her name out there in the big wide world and started off by releasing the white-label album ‘Broken Bracelet’ in 2000 to an unexpecting almost under-ground group of American music-loving fans, all of a sudden female solo artist didn’t mean ‘Britney Spears’ or ‘Billie Piper’, it meant talent and skill and music that actually meant something.

It wasn’t long before talent scouts picked up on this up and coming star and sooner rather than later she was noticed and signed up to the big time aka Maverick Records, they put their faith in her and gave her a worldwide release with ‘The Spirit Room’ a mix of new tracks with the best of her previous album ‘Broken Bracelet’ and the rest as they say is history, she's a worldwide musical superstar, everywhere she goes people know her name and its all finally come right for her.

But enough about my gushing love of Ms.Branch, its a CD review thats needed here and its a CD review you’ll get, so read on and realise that right at this very minute you’re cheating on your Stereo by not playing her album.

1. Everywhere: the first song of Michelle’s to be released in the UK (but not the first one I ever heard though - heh!) and to be honest, this is Michelle at her best, as it seems happens a lot of the time she’d released the song right when the lyrics really meant something to me, a song about falling for someone and constantly dreaming about them whilst never actually being with them.

If you’re wondering what to expect when you hear just close your eyes right now, think what it was like when Sheryl Crow started to go just a tad more rocky and less cliche (All I wanna do anyone?) and you’ve just about got it, and this is never any more clearer than when you listen to ‘Everywhere’.

Starting out you’d be forgiven for expecting a true pop sound within this track but as it slowly evolves you realise that Michelle’s going all out to get the rock and pop sounds mixed together just perfectly and luckily she’s done just that. It’s the kind of track that gets you singing along as you walk down the street or on the train, the tune to it is infectious, it gets you tapping your fingers in the day without even realising it and makes you want to sing out loud, it just has that effect.

As it moves on you’ll find that you never want the track to stop, however the album just keeps getting better and better, especially when you get.............

2. You Get Me: On my first time hearing this song to be honest I was a tad disappointed, it was a bit slower than Everywhere and knowing Michelle’s preferred taste in her musical style I just thought it wasn’t up to her usual high standard, and it shocked me when it appeared on her first major release.

However, its grown on me, its a slow track, a bit slushy but still having the pop-rock undertones that have now become trademark to Michelle’s releases, and this is the thing that really attracted me to her style of music, she puts soul into her songs, not just this one - every one, to see her play live it is instantly noticeable that she’s still in awe at how far she's come, but its all deserved.

No matter though, when listening to this song first, don’t worry, listen to it a few times and you’ll start to feel it grow on you, I know its slow and its a lot different to the rest of the album, but its a great track, it just needs a chance.

3. All You Wanted: Some people call it the track of the album, when she’s playing a concert this is the track the fans expect her to play, but in my eyes no matter how good it is, it isn’t the best track on the album (that one shall come later).

But its still brilliant, much like every other song on the album, its got the kind of words that make you want to just sing along in the street, luckily I can get away with it at least in Grimsby by claiming I’m practicing for my bands latest gig (hah!).

But more about the song itself, its back to the original stylings that I’ve come to expect from Michelle, there’s a subtle undertone of Rock and you can tell that this is where Michelle’s happiest - playing her style of music not being controlled by everyone else, once again there's pure emotion here, she’s proud of what she’s got here - and it shows. When an artist really enjoys what they do its obvious via the quality of their work - and its obvious here, there’s passion, fire and the most utmost quality a song needs: creativity, its all there - just listen and find out.

4. You Set Me Free: There’s a will, There’s a way, the perfect words to describe this song, its been said before that Michelle had trouble writing this track but on hearing it you’ll be glad that she did, it’s Michelle at her best - she’s making the listener feel better about him or herself whilst playing a soft-rock sound.

The whole writing of the song is that of pure ecstasy - she’s showing a true pleasure here, and it shows that she’s relieved that she got the song finally wrote. As with most albums I find this one hard to review - I like it, I don’t know why, but I do.

5. Something To Sleep To: To listen to the song without really listening to the lyrics you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’re listening to a sorrowful song, but believe me you’re not - it just seems to be a celebration of the end of a relationship, which yeah it isn’t the best track to feel happy to, but don’t ask me why because it does.

As with all of the tracks on the album, Michelle’s putting her soul into the music that she’s playing, and the actual music is what makes the track, its a hummable (made up words rock) tune that lets you just lose yourself in the music.

As it all goes on you will find that people stare at you in the street - as when Michelle launches into the chorus, its the type of music that just completely takes over your body, once again - give it a listen and you’ll see how great a singer you’re missing if you don’t already own the album.

6. Here With Me: You want emotion, then you’ve got it here - that’s the one thing that you’ll find throughout this album - Michelle’s really pouring her heart out here, and to be honest she’s just so happy that she’s hit the big time so early in her career, but back to the song.

As you can expect the lyrics are referring to an unknown person that Michelle would prefer to be with her than thousands of miles away, and as it goes along the wording of the song does get the listener thinking about the meaning behind the words and its possible to completely forget about the music she’s playing as well, however you’d be forgiven to do that as her heavenly voice does make the listener drift away.

7. Sweet Misery: Remember that a while back in this review I said I’d mention the best song on the album later on - well I’d better get around to it hadn’t I? its this one - its the song on the album that sends shivers down my spine, and sends me almost into a euphoric trance.

Its slow, its mournful and to be totally honest its not the kind of song you’ll usually find Michelle singing, its not her favourite style and it is the type of song that would make anybody feeling sad get even worse, but its those songs that make the best ones, look at Everybody Hurts by REM and Candle In The Wind by Elton John, both of which are well known to bring tears to peoples eyes - but they’re 2 of the best songs that ever were.

Once again Michelle’s voice just accentuates the sound that comes out of your speakers when playing the track, she’s so soulful its hard to believe that she’s still in her teens, and to listen to this track I get a feeling of a ‘cheery’ Beth Orton (a sad song and I still think that she’s a cheery version of someone else - you obviously haven’t heard Beth Orton’s work have you?), as the song goes on it does seem to get a tad more upbeat, but the lyrics keep listeners on a low par emotionally, but a high pair acoustically.

8. If Only She Knew: And its back to basics for Michelle, mournful but almost chirpy music and lyrics, but I have to say that this is my least favourite song on the album - not because of the music, but the subject matter - Michelle telling an ex-boyfriend that she still loves him and knows that he feels the same even though he’s in another relationship - lets just say that that isn’t the best way to endear yourself to me!

However that’s only a slight niggle, once more she’s produced something that gets you tapping your toes along with the sounds that she’s produced, even the backing singers repeating ‘Na-Na-Na-Naaa-Na-NaNa’ is catchy enough to keep your average listener going, and when you’re one of the singers greatest fans, well its just 100% better.

9. I’d Rather Be In Love: More mournful lyrics, and anyone who knows the Michelle of old would be feeling that perhaps outside influences have noticed that this is her best type of song for the listener, and all through the album there’s just a strong feeling of Sheryl Crow peering through, just with a lot more in the way of meaningful lyrics and 10 times better than Crow ever was.

Back to the song, it seems to have a fast and quirky upbeat sound, even though the lyrics do put the listener on a bit of a downer, its just one that pulls on the heart-strings and makes the listener be aware of the strength and passion that Michelle’s put into this album.

Just one slight niggle with the track, it’s the ending - it seems to be a bit of an anti-climax, Michelle starts to sound as if she’s ready to launch into one of the solo guitar spots that she enjoys to incorporate into all her tracks but instead its just a bit of a rush - then nothing, but its only slight and nothing to down-rate the album over.

10. Goodbye To You: Slow, Melodic and actually rather good (notice how there isn’t one track I dislike in this album?) - there’s a feeling that this one is something rather special, it doesn’t involve the long guitar solos that are familiar to Branch-ette’s its more a song where she gets to show off her vocal skills and makes any doubter of her talent feel rather foolish.

But sadly once again, I can’t put my finger on what it is that makes me love the song so much - and maybe that’s why its so good - its a song I can just lie back and listen to.

11. Drop In The Ocean: Oh the last song on the album, no fair!, but its still good - and a very experimental style by Michelle, there’s an introduction to electronically enhanced music, the backing music is mostly from computers, and it makes for weird but wonderful listening, its slow and soulful still, but its just the weirdness that makes it.

Halfway through the track expect the electronics to end and hear Michelle singing over a faint background noise, but don’t fret - as the electronic sound does come back (which is actually a good thing), its weird but a secret rule of the album world is to make the last track so interesting that you can’t wait for the next album, and on this performance it’s worked for Michelle, and its worked big time!

Right - that’s the review of the album over, its a secret treasure of mine, its something that makes me sound cool when I mention to friends and colleagues about my musical preferences, anyone out there who’s heard Michelle’s work before will be pleased to know that she has a bank of songs ready and waiting for a new album, and shes also writing new material to be released in the Summer of next year, its a long wait - but going by the strength of this album, it’ll be worth it.

For more information on Michelle Branch try:

http://www.michellebranch.net
http://www.michellebranch.com
http://www.michellebranch.dot.nu
http://www.michellebranch.ca
http:www.michellebranch.co.uk