Music Review // Heather Gruber "Dance into the Desert"

https://open.spotify.com/album/3fsKg1Zrihb2kgDaujnSFh //

Did you ever get that feeling that you're listening to something that you've heard before?   Heather Gruber creates complex pop songs that have elements which make me feel like I've heard this sound before but I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it is, so I can only be left to conclude that the pieces of other artists which can be found in these songs coupled with how accessible it feels makes for something all too familiar but also just that great.

The tone tends to be fun and upbeat, though at times it can get sad, but from the start when hearing these songs I feel like they could be from one of those "Curious George" animated movies even though they don't sound exactly like Jack Johnson.   I hear a little bit of Annie Lennox in here and there are also these piano parts which make this feel a little bit like that coffee shop type of jazz as well.   If I had to use a word to describe this music it would be "Bohemian", though when others use that to describe music I tend not to like how it sounds.

Since this has more of a pop feel to it a lot of the influences I can hear are of artists I only know for one song.   Nelly Furtado's song about being like a bird and flying away comes to mind, though, again, I'm not saying this sounds like Nelly Furtado as I only know that one song.   The same can be said for that song "Torn" (you know the one) and the song "Lost My Halo" has similarities with "Superman" by Five For Fighting (And yeah, I had to google it by the lyrics to pull up the song title and artist)

The more that I listen to this- and hopefully the more that you do as well- it begins to shift away from those influences I picked out early on and just takes on its own sound, its own story really as you can feel sometimes like these songs are light as a feather and other times they just feel like you're caught in a downpour of rain.   Whether you call it pop, bossa nova or something in between it's something which not only feels easily accessible but it is also easily enjoyable.