Heads Up: New Artist on Deck Meiko
Meiko has come a long way since being a cocktail waitress just over a year ago. Releasing her self-titled debut album on myspace in September of 2007, Meiko has catapulted herself from serving martini’s to LA’s finest to appearing on some LA’s finest television shows. This mellow singer-songwriter combines her talents of songwriting with her smooth as silk voice to create an immediate coffee-house atmosphere anywhere her music is heard. After listening to Meiko’s album several times through, I can refer only to the album’s appeal as the “it” factor. Something about the honesty in her voice combined with the perfect melodies makes it near impossible to skip a track; something can be rarely said about a full album. The stand out song on the album is obviously Boy’s With Girlfriends.
The hook in the chorus never seems to get old leaving you yearning to hear the chorus one more time even after the song is over. Another great draw about this song is that it begins with just the keyboard and vocals and immediately after the climax of the bridge, it drops back into the chorus reduced to just keyboard and vocals; coming full circle and making the listener feel complete. The other tracks on the album that carry an upbeat but, easy going tone are How Lucky We Are, Heard It All Before, and Walk By.
A great album is always defined by the last song, and this one is exception. Meiko’s slow and haunting song Hawaii projects the same feel as Damien Rice’s Cheer’s Darling. The lyrics taken alone appear to be something written for an overly optimistic song strummed on an up-tempo guitar. Somehow, they end up fitting perfectly behind an eerie slow tune that sets a melancholic ambiance that makes you allow the CD to go back to the first track and start all over again just to get back to the optimistic singer-songwriter you first met. That being said, I have fallen asleep while listening to this album multiple times; and that’s a good thing!
Patrick Kennedy
