Well darlings, I first heard from the lovely Amanda Zelina back in March when she released her single “Obsessed” off her debut album Love Me Till I’m Me Again. I was taken with it. It’s a gorgeous tune and her voice is sweet and clear. The whole album came my way soon thereafter and it did not disappoint. Eight tracks that give you a taste for more of Amanda’s siren-like calls. I’m telling you, if she comes anywhere near Chicago, I’ll be at her show. I might just get in my car and go to more than one even!

Her songs are about love, of course. All the artists I love write about love, now don’t they? But there’s no pretense here, no hand wringing or teenage drama. Amanda’s songs are intimate in a very thoughtful way, in a way that expresses the disappointment and the joy of love the way a real person might. In other words, listening to these lyrics, Amanda Zelina just sounds like a woman you’d want to get to know. She’s surely an artist you want to hear, I knew that a minute into the first song.

But it’s lyrics like:

“There ain’t nothing you can say, baby, that will take my love away. Seems there’s nothing you can do that’ll take my eyes from you… People ask why you’re all that, it’s the things you do. Never met a gaze that says ‘I love you’ like yours does. I need you for sure ’cause you give me more purpose you do. And for that I’m obsessed with you.” Obsessed

“I’m an empty faucet with no water.  I’m a bastard child with no father.  I’m the sky with no sun. I’m the earth with no one. I’ll be waiting on the midnight train to come and roll me away so I don’t have to love again. I’ve been paying that toll since I don’t know when.” Midnight Train

“It’s not fun facing fears alone… it hurts realizing you aren’t who you are anymore.” I Loved Before

See? They’re not cryptic. They’re not stunningly deep. They are simply honest and real. They’re the kind of words that come to me when I sit down and think about my life.  Amanda Zelina writes for all of us who find love, love love, lose love and wonder if we want love again.

But this album, Love Me Till I’m Me Again is so much more than that. Each track on it takes the way she strings a melody like a vine around a tree, and makes it into something completely different from the next. With piano, guitar, and prudent use of a brush on cymbal, her sultry voice weaves together eight songs that I listen to over and over, never tiring of them. The instrumentation is mellow, used as background, most often just a piano or guitar with vocals pushed way up front. Her style is jazz and blues influenced indie-pop, she phrases her lyrics casually, as to stretch the final vowels out nicely. “Here I Am Again” features gorgeous piano counter melodies, as does “I Loved Before.” The recording is produced so that her voice is perhaps a bit too predominant, which is a bit of a shame really, because the music behind her is really accomplished as well. I’ve listened to “Here I Am Again” so many times to pick out that piano part!  “Love Leads The Way” might just be my favorite track, aside from “Obsessed.” But then I hear “My Version Of It” and I start singing along and I think that one is my favorite too. This might well make my top albums list for 2009, for many reasons, but especially because it’s such a good album to sing to. Go buy Love Me Till I’m Me Again and see Amanda Zelina when she comes anywhere near your town. She’s just more than lovely, xoxo

Tour Dates
Sep 21 2009 8:00P The Cameron House W/ LADY HAYES! Toronto, Ontario
Sep 28 2009 8:00P Cest What W/ DEL BARBER Toronto, Ontario
Oct 18 2009 8:00P TBA WEST COAST CANADIAN/US TOUR KICK OFF AND MY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION! TORONTO, Ontario
Oct 21 2009 8:00P BLACK PIRATES PUB ( WEST COAST CANADIAN TOUR) W/NOAH ENGH THUNDERBAY, Ontario
Oct 24 2009 8:00P LADY OF THE LAKE: WEST COAST CANADIAN/US TOUR W/ NOAH ENGH BRANDON, Manitoba
Oct 27 2009 8:00P TBA WEST COAST CANADIAN/US TOUR W/ NOAH ENGH REGINA
Oct 28 2009 8:00P VANGELIS TAVERN (WEST COAST CANADIAN/US TOUR W/ NOAH ENGH SASKATOON, Saskatchewan
Nov 1 2009 4:00P The Ironwood ( West Coast Tour W/ Noah Engh) Calgary!, Alberta
Nov 2 2009 8:00P TBA WEST COAST CANADIAN/US TOUR W/ NOAH ENGH VANCOUVER, British Columbia
Nov 3 2009 8:00P THE COMET TAVERN ( WEST COAST TOUR) W/ NOAH ENGH Seattle, Washington
Nov 5 2009 8:00P TBA ( WEST COAST TOUR) W/ NOAH ENGH PORTLAND, Oregon
Nov 6 2009 8:00P TBA ( WEST COAST TOUR) W/ NOAH ENGH Chico
Nov 7 2009 8:00P TBA ( WEST COAST TOUR) W/ NOAH ENGH San Fransisco
Nov 8 2009 8:00P TBA ( WEST COAST TOUR) W/ NOAH ENGH San Jose
Nov 11 2009 8:00P GENGHIS COHEN (WEST COAST TOUR WITH NOAH ENGH) Los Angeles, California
Mar 10 2010 8:00P CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK Toronto, Ontario
Mar 11 2010 8:00P CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK TORONTO, Ontario
Mar 12 2010 8:00P CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK TORONTO, Ontario
Mar 13 2010 8:00P CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK TORONTO, Ontario