Abigail Lapell - Great Survivor

Abigail Lapell - Great Survivor
2011, Great Survivor

Toronto singer/songwriter Abigail Lapell has been touring Eastern Canada for a few years now, with notable performances at NXNE, Pop Montreal, Winterfolk and In the Dead of Winter.  Lapell wins over audiences with memorable melodies, dead-on honesty and a voice that evokes sorrow as easily as water reflects light on a sunny day.  Lapell first came to our attention last year through her evocative Demo EP.  In 2011, she returns with her debut album, Great Survivor.  Swinging the same velvety alto voice and an almost timeless story-teller mystique, Lapell vivisects the world around her in song, searching for understanding in poetry both abstract and refined.

Great Survivor opens with "Crescent Moon"; a promise to return in a light, whispy folk song as fleeting as the moon's phases.  "Great Survivor" is instantly recognizable, with a chorus you'll swear you've heard a thousand times before.  Lapell writes almost in thought arrangements, making abstract connections as a spider spinning a web.  There's a hero crush buried deep here in artful poetry, but Lapell's fung shui lyrical style is so deeply imaged that it's not easy to follow without great care.  "Sally" finds Lapell engaging in gentle word play as she once again surfs the abstract for understanding.  This is one of the prettiest melodies on the album.

"All That I Wanted" is an angst-filled song of next steps, choices and indecision.  Lapell's low key approach is a thing of beauty here.  "Yellow Rose" finds Lapell exploring allegories for love and how it keeps missing the mark.  There's a sort of non-committal melancholy here that's mildly intriguing, as the narrator sees her way forward alone.  "Beautiful" looks at a prospective love with intense honesty, acknowledging baggage in the way.  This could either be an intensely realistic look at a situation, or the self-doubting safety of one who finds it safer to love from afar than to act.  Either way, the honesty here is compelling.  Lapell changes gears with "Paper", a song about stepping out of time and simply being together.  The cadence of the song is absolutely enthralling, and you'll find yourself drawn in almost immediately.  Great Survivor bows with "Twenty-Nine" is a rumination on love and the uncertainty of its various courses.  Lapell's voice bears the ghosts of country and folk in an unglamorous but plain-beautiful song that speaks from the heart.

Abigail Lapell is a distinctive voice, both as a singer and songwriter.  Lapell fills her songs with highly literate lyrics born of deep intelligence and a struggle to understand human traits that are irrational and insane.  Love plagues the songs on Great Survivor like water on an open wound.  That which cleanses also hurts, confuses and often evades in Lapell's songs, but is revealed, as always, as the prime motivator of all that we do.  Abigail Lapell's voice is of the earth, warm and wintry in its turn, but always evocative and full of emotion.  Lapell leaves her heart out in view on Great Survivor, and you can't walk away without knowing the artist more than a little.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more at www.abigaillapell.com or www.myspace.com/abigaillapell.  You can purchase Great Survivor directly from abigaillapell.com as either a CD or download.  The album is also available via iTunes.

Abigail Lapell - Demonstration Recordings

Abigail Lapell - Demonstration Recordings
2010, Abigail Lapell

Abigail Lapell was born in Toronto but spent many years in Montreal before returning home in 2008. A fiery and highly personal performer, Lapell writes with a folk singer's storytelling acumen and the energy and commitment of a punk rocker. Having shared the stage with acts such as Veda Hille, Pony Up!, Rae Spoon and Lowest Of The Low, Lapell has shown an ability to win over crowds no matter how disparate their musical tastes. Along the way Lapell has also launched a monthly concert series featuring female performers (Catcall) and worked composing material for Toronto's Stranger Theatre. Lapell's latest project, Demonstration Recordings, is the first leg on the path to a full length album.

Demonstration Recordings opens with "Yellow Rose", a matter-of-fact yet mournful lamentation of a love life that never seems to work out quite right but is always guided by the best of intentions. Lapell works in a very low key approach here, relating the bumps and bruises of her heart in steady but heartfelt words in a low-key Americana arrangement. "Great Survivor" is musically and aesthetically pleasing with a darkly whimsical sense to the lyrics. It's as if Lapell is more riffing on a theme than trying to convey any particular message here, but the results are a pleasure to the ear. "Paper" is a song of longing; melancholy and plainspoken in approach. This low-key delivery doesn't work for every singer, but Lapell's voice projects a tragic beauty in velvety alto tones that reach right through you. "Twenty-Nine" looks at loss and see opportunity for the one who has walked away. The lack of emotion here is a bit disturbing, as if the narrator has suffered a dissociative break over the relationship's end. "Make Your Way Home" calls out to a love away from home, reminding him that home is always ready and waiting. Home here is both the place and the person who waits there. Lapell is fatalistic beyond the pale, delving deep into the melancholy of being apart without really showing the emotions you might expect. The dense pall of muted tragedy casts its glow once again.

Abigail Lapell is a distinctive voice, but as a singer and writer of songs her low key approach may not sit well with some. Nevertheless her gorgeous alto voice will overcome most of the naysayers. Lapell has shown an ability to fit in well with crowds ranging from rowdy punk/drunk to coffeehouse and seems able to appeal to all comers. Her Demonstration Recordings are just a start, but it’s the sort of start that launches careers.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Abigail Lapell at http://www.abigaillapell.com/ or www.myspace.com/abigaillapell.  You can purchase Demonstration Recordings directly from Abigal Lapell through her webstore.  Digital copies are available on a name your own price basis.  Lapell will also send you a CD with handmade packaging for a minimum of payment of $10.00.  This CD is extremely limited, with Lapell producing only 200 copies.  These are likely to be big collector's items one day.