Alecia Renece‘s Matter EP is simply superb. Renece has a tremendous voice, commitment to poetic lyricism, songwriting versatility, a sweet, sweet penchant for harmonizing with herself, and, to top it all off, professional quality mixing and mastering on her tracks.
The voice is probably what makes this release so satisfying. The voice is good. Like, really good. Renece moves seamlessly through notes, mostly hitting them spot on, giving them love and attention. And really, the voice says it all about what’s going with the release in general; it’s saying, very simply, Alecia Renece’s “The Artist” LLC is not the real estate equivalent of some dirty groundfloor unit with paper thin walls in a building built before they discovered lead was bad; rather it’s a woven vinyl floored penthouse with marble countertops right next to that Italian place I went to on Valentine’s day at Waterfront.
And let’s talk about the poetry here, can we talk about the poetry? There are some great lines, like, “Premium cut, you’re favorite slice, I break myself to pieces baby baby so that you can have whatever you like.” And the diversity of songwriting styles, Renece brings the energy up on the eminently pleasing track, “You’re Welcome,” and brings it back down to feature those sweet vocal harmonies on “Longest End”. That’s all to say nothing of the opening track itself. Seriously folks, clench your bowels before listening, it’s that good.
This reviewer wasn’t hot on every track, but overall a great release, plain and simple.
Notable tracks: "Why you gotta go", "You’re Welcome", "Longest End".
-Mike Dranove