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Alfa's Second Skin Yields Brilliance and Maturity

Written by Ted Reyes

Thursday, 02 July 2009

Alfa

Alfa

NEW YORK– Artists have phases in their careers. The not so great ones have downhill phases, while great ones have phases pointing them towards perfection.

In Alfa's sophomore album entitled Second Skin, we see her in a new phase, which reveals her in her most brilliant form yet– a testament to the fact that she is currently the best female singer-songwriter in the New York and New Jersey Asian-American music scene.

Second Skin is such a well-written record that it is a challenge to anyone who listens to it to even describe it as an OK record because It is not just an OK record, it is a magnificent record. It is Alfa at the top of her game.

The opening track Supergirl is rich with musical ideas because for the first time, we hear Alfa's music fully accompanied, unlike her first record, which was mostly accompanied by her acoustic guitar. Alfa's producer, Alex Houton played most of instruments in this album.

Alfa chose to use the piano to a large degree here, which perfectly matches the nice tongue-and-cheek beat.
Supergirl is a great album opener because it ushers the listener to Alfa's new phase as if she is saying '" told you it will be different." Well, different but great.

Another great track is the second song Love as Tragedy: A Play in Three Acts, which displays Alfa's lyrical gifts and knack at crafting sweet pop music. It has a solid driving rhythm that brings a great groove.

All the 11 tracks in Second Skin are great. The skip button will have no use for this record.

Consider the track Isabelle. It is track number five in the album. The song is a French-styled ditty with Alfa actually singing verses in French. It is lushly decorated with an accordion and violin, which was played by Jorge Miranda. It is nothing short of magnificent for it is so different from the rest of the songs in the collection , yet the listener will have no doubt that it is still Alfa's song. Though extremely musically detached from the other 10 songs, it is not a "what was she thinking" moment. It fits perfectly in the album.

All songs were written by the Bergenfield , NJ artist except for the songs Wear Your Shoes, and I wont, which she co-wrote with Mr. Houton

The last song , Home to Me, which was recorded live with just Alfa playing the piano is a perfect album closer. It was a great decision to have her accompanied by only the piano for it totally captured the song's sentimentality and rewarded the listener with honest to goodness tenderness.

If one thing is evident in this record, it is that Alfa has truly matured.
She now understands the power of the chorus. In pop music, a song without a chorus is a song wasted. And Alfa provided the best choruses yet in her young career. So catchy are these choruses that the listener still sings them even after the tracks have ended and the the player has started playing the next track, which inevitably contains yet another catchy chorus.

Second Skin is Alfa's second offering, but really, it is the beginning of her stellar career.

Second Skin
Alfa
Independent

Tracklist

1. Supergirl
2. Love as Tragedy
3. Second Skin
4. Don't Write Your Goodbyes
5. Isabelle
6. Foot Out the Door
7. Nothing Ever Lasts
8. Wear Your Shoes
9. Hazy-Eyed Troubadour
10. I Won't
11. Home to Me

Visit http://www.alfamusic.com • http://www.myspace.com/alfa

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