Linda Debella: “Jupiter Moon” – crafty, melodic, layered, beautiful and inspired!

Growing up outside Los Angeles, Linda Debella took years of classical piano lessons, and listened almost exclusively to pop radio. She says there’s nothing like the perfect “3-minute song” – how it can move people in a way that nothing else can. Her first job was at a Hollywood recording studio and, as a budding songwriter; she instantly fell in love with music production. It was there that she learned the basics of recording and engineering that allows her to seamlessly weave together complex vocal harmonies and instrumentation to create her unique sound.

Linda Debella’s latest album is the 12-track, socially conscious, indie-pop recording, “Jupiter Moon”. If you have never listened to Linda, take the time to listen to this album. Her voice is like no other – sultry, sweet, powerful, inviting, while the music is crafty, melodic, layered, beautiful and inspired.  Its’ quieter acoustic spaces give way to energy-driven lamentations that manage to flow together seamlessly.

Once you penetrate what you think is an apparent lack of musical diversity on this album and instead come to appreciate the subtle variations from one song to another, it can possess you at a far deeper level than more accessible but ultimately more superficial albums. Pianos, acoustic guitars, bass, drums and layers of harmonies abound, to breathe life into magnificent storytelling by a voice that takes us back to the golden era of singer-songwriters. Linda Debella’s voice drips like honey off of an open jar, taking me back to memories of Joan Baez, Carole King, Carly Simon and Rita Coolidge… lord they don’t make them like they used to…or do they?

This is a seriously outstanding album. Linda Debella is one of the few contemporary artists who can stand comparison with female singer-songwriter figures from previous decades. Whether she gives us promises of volcanic love or whether she just sings to us her fear and sorrows, or is taking a look into our daily existence, the result is always the same here: spectacular.

What makes the whole equation even more satisfying is the music which is brilliantly penetrating. The combination of voice and piano dominates almost every song with angular dynamics which will reverberate in your soul and mind long after the last note is played. And it happens the minute she kicks off the album with “Big Bang”.

And as far as the subsequent songs are individually concerned, what you get is nothing less than a barrage of masterful, incredibly powerful songs: “Sanity”, “Jupiter Moon”, “Blame”, “Nothing Else Will Do”, “Unthinkable”, “Crush” and “Black and White” are filled with lyrical and musical stuff that nobody should overlook. In terms of consistent songwriting, the only female artist capable of filling an album with so much consistent quality that I can remember in the last 30 years or so is Joni Mitchell.

No matter what your beef is about Linda Debella’s music, you have to admit that she totally immerses herself in her craft.  I was totally absorbed in “Jupiter Moon” and didn’t want it to end. That, to me, is the sign of a great artist.

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