Album Details

• Artist: Linda Brooks
• Album: The Spaces In Between
• Label:
• Year of Release: 2010
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: archelon on 2010-02-13

Linda Brooks is no stranger to the music business. Having released her debut "Under A Painted Moon" the same year she got married and earning an East Coast Music nomination for Best Female Artist she was all set to leap straight into the stratosphere of lyrically-driven adult pop, but then she took time out to be a mother - about 13 years, in fact. But now she is back, and she certainly has a lot to say.

Brooks has a strong and emotionally-driven voice but this latest album shows a little more eclecticism in style than the last - a few country influences here, a little rock n roll there but the basic formula is the same. It's exactly the kind of music you could imagine gracing the soundtrack of a romantic comedy. "Jenny" is a perfect example.

By the time "Leaving" comes around in the middle of the album, it's starting to wont for something more fun and upbeat rather than purging and inspirational, but when we get to "Smalltown" there are a few more hopeful riffs. The album is nearly given a huge boost by the last song, "Last Train", but the lyrics let it down somewhat. I nearly found myself singing along on my first time listening through being able to guess what she was about to say next.

13 years of absence and child-bearing will do a lot of things for a person. Certainly there is a lot of depth here and Brooks is on a mission to pour out all of the emotion she's been otherwise unable to communicate over the last decade. Unfortunately there's also a few too many pop cliches, suggesting she's been out of the game too long. She's got a good thing going here - now she just needs to go a bit nuts with it and see what happens.

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