ALBUM REVIEW: 'Sincerely Yours' and 'In the Inbetween' - Stacy Barthe

      Written by [Guest Editor] Sefano Patton (@ABlackPig) (www.SVelvetNoose.com)

        First impressions are of the utmost importance in an unforgiving economy that favors the consumer.  Alicia Keys was introduced to the world as a singer-songwriter, so we accept it. However, something different happens when an already established songwriter wants to stand in front of the microphone under the hot lights; we are apprehensive, especially in the information age where the Music Industry has been cracked open and laid out for everyone to see. 

Stacy Barthe, the singer, comes to us by way of song writing. Her credits include the top ten smash “Cheers (drink to that),” performed by Rihanna , Britney Spear’s “Blur,” and Brandy’s 2011 December leak “Silent Night”; these are only a few of the songs to her billing.  So, when I discovered Barthe’s Sincerely Yours EP, I wondered if she would be re-hashing the sounds of today’s top 40 acts that she helped create.

Thankfully, I was wrong. Sincerely Yours is just that – it is for the individual listener, because nothing sounds generic. This is the shiny red bike you want your friends in the cul-de-sac to admire but not really ride. This is personal.  You won’t find any rehashed pop or R&B on this EP. In fact, while surfing another blog, I saw the term “R&B” attached to the project.  I feel they are mistaken; Sincerely Yours is simply music. 

Stacy Barthe emotes with the best of them, Sade, Toni Braxton, and Alanis Moresette on tracks like “Not Like I Used To” where the background vocals are haunting and her lead vocals are a bit sassy. She sings inaudibly under the electric guitar as the track fades a perfect “I don’t give a fuck anymore” send off to an ex-lover. Barthe regrets, pleads and reminisces on “Without You” featuring Frank Ocean where the latter plays her opposite. Ocean is a man that stands his ground proclaiming she had it all and now she only appreciates him because he is gone. Barthe bends, stretches, and pulls on the end of notes like fabric—running them into synthesizers to get the most out of each line; her voice becomes an instrument propelling the track forward. Everything on Sincerely Yours, is definitively Barthe; however, Barthe doesn’t deliver as effortlessly on her next EP (I’m neglecting her Christmas EP). 

Barthe has called In the Inbetween a Caribbean-influenced EP. It is a little more than influenced; the new EP is down right heavy-handed and much too literal in its influence. From the strings, horns, and bass line of “Keep It like It Is” that feel like they were plucked out of Caribbean café to the dead on lyricism of “Everbeen  Everfelt” where by the climax Barthe aggressively sings “This is the worst break up ever felt, this is the saddest I’ve ever been.” What happened to metaphors of “Comfy Little Coffin” to get across the heartbreak or the suicidal tendency and dose of humor “Drink my pain away” provided on the first EP?

While her voice is as immaculate as ever, I can’t help but feel the personable aspect of her music is too few and far between on In the Inbetween. There are gems on the EP where her personality shines through her vocals and writing on “Do Me” a song about the golden rule: do unto to others as you’d have them do unto you. On “Find My Way” Barthe’s authoritative tone commands (rather than asks) a lost lover to find his way back to her. Although, again, the production lacks interpretation, Barthe’s delivery makes the track worth repeated listening. The sound of live instruments and digital sounds mesh very well on the entrancing “Easier Said Than Done,” where you believe Barthe is really a lover caught in turmoil as she pushes her conflicting feelings at you with her breathy lower register. It is a track that finally has the interpretation of island music. The sixth song on the EP is by far the stand out track. This blue grass digital song brings to mind “You and I” by Lady Gaga, only more refined. Left field from the rest of the production, yes, but that is what makes “Heart Switch (Turn It Off)” a winner. With the inclusion of this song it makes me believe Barthe is still interested in making music, instead of just plugging her talent into a genre.