MGF Reviews Alexa Wilkinson – Lullaby Appetite

Reviews


Alexa Wilkinson – Lullaby Appetite
DNK Records (7/10/07)
Acoustic Pop / Country

Alexa Wilkinson reminds me a lot of Toby Lightman, a fellow Cherry Hill, N.J., native. These two artists are strikingly beautiful, deserve massive airplay, are true to their music, could sell out intimate venues without being the opening act and have the range to go in many directions in their careers.

Sometimes I can see her voice fitting exclusively in the pop genre, and then I hear flavors of country and blues. At the same time, I don’t want to put her in one category, as she has such a unique voice. I know I haven’t heard a voice like this in quite a while.

By complete accident, I ended up hearing her “Of Graves” play ahead of her MySpace automatic track which happened to be the same one, and it gave an incredibly cool ghostly effect to hear the first minute like a remix. This track happens to be one of my favorites, and is also the first single, showing Alexa’s range and the certainty that she’s singing music she believes in.

Title track “Lullaby Appetite” is an intimate appeal and is indeed a song that grows with time, with its comfortable melody. “Waterline” has a Trisha Yearwood country feel and stays aligned to the music.

“Movie Moment” deserves to be on the platform that bares its name. This would make a great opening single and a good song for a new television series. “Interest of Saving Time” could have easily been covered by a mainstream established artist but I don’t believe anyone on the scene today could sing it as convincingly as Alexa does.

At times I want to sing along with her, and sometimes I just want to stand back and listen and hear her tell the story without my attempted accompaniment. This is a gift of Alexa being a good songwriter and musical storyteller. “Just Gone” is incredible; it’s hard to believe so much talent comes from this woman at twenty years of age.

What makes Alexa refreshing is how personable her album sounds; I encourage everyone to pick this up and see her while she opens for Josh Kelley on the road. Kelley, who has also toured with Toby Lightman, was so convinced of Alexa’s talent that he helped produce five of the songs on her album. “Every Inch” makes me crave for Alexa’s live shows more than any other track on the album.

There weren’t many tracks on Lullaby Appetite that I wouldn’t want another serving of, but I didn’t connect to the opening “Good Fight” as well as the others. I felt it wasn’t a good representation of the album as a whole, it only proved that Alexa could kick open the door, which isn’t such a bad thing afterall.

A strong debut effort, DNK Records has a superstar on their hands. I hope to see Alexa play the House of Blues venues as the premiere act in the near future.

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