As my fellow critic Dave Depper intimated in a Pulse article a few weeks ago, it is time for crappy pop music to die. But although he noted that pop’s destruction would be heralded by third-class artists, we also have a viable alternative to kick the habit.
New artist Shea (pronounced SHAY-a) Seger is helping to lead us back to the right path in music with her debut album “May Street Project.” Here is a 21-year-old who could very well be singing the same hackneyed tunes with electronic beats that pervade top-10 radio. Instead, she blends modern musical styles with a basic rock and blues base and simple emotional lyrics that we can all relate to.
Seger’s musical style is not easy to classify except that it has playful soul. She blends more electrical sounds and samples here and there with her acoustic guitar and varying vocal styles, which range from those of Fiona Apple and Dido.
Seger’s words can really touch each individual, but a contradictory feeling is brought about by the musical tone’s conflict with lyrical meaning. “Shatterwall,” a song about trying to connect with people, has a lamenting chorus moaning in the background like a wailing wind. Ooooo, metaphor. At the same time, a grandmother-like voice says, “You’ve got to go over the bridge and talk to your neighbor.” The effect is inner conflict. You want to listen to grandma and go over the bridge, but you feel like there’s something scary over there that those voices are warning you about. What to do?
The songs on the album represent these conflicts and paradoxes inherent in relationships by providing an almost equal number of “Yay Relationships!” songs and “Relationships Suck” songs. I must state one of my assumptions at this point: Everyone is going through, has gone through or will go through the problems that the songs on “May Street Project” deal with. I could justify myself, but just believe me on this one.
The first single “Last Time,” for example, is a song about liberation, but it doesn’t ignore the weakness that makes it difficult to leave the situation. As the chorus begins saying, “And if I wake up next to you/it will be the last time,” Seger reminds listeners of similar mistakes they have likely made.
Way over on the other side of the scale are tunes like “Always.” The song is a duet between Seger and singer Ron Sexsmith. During the chorus, they both sing, “You said you’d save me/but I don’t want to be saved/I just want to be loved/and to love/always.” I know that it sounds really bad in text, but when they’re singing, you will believe it, man. It’s definitely the kind of song that couples will cuddle to on special days.
Seger’s integration of male and female sentiments in her lyrics are what will make this album successful. As a member of the penis-possessing population, female artists have to work much harder to interest me with their music. It is too easy to fall into that “angry-girl-with-a-guitar” routine. But Seger doesn’t isolate her male audience at all. Each song could be an anthem for any person regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation dealing with relationship problems.
With all this talk about problems, it would be easy to take this album too seriously. That would be a mistake. Seger celebrates herself and her confusion on the album and whether a particular song has a happy or sad tone, she is enjoying making it. This is the most apparent on the upbeat song “I Can’t Lie.” This song makes use of southern tones that reflect her upbringing in Texas while she sings about frustration with and withdrawal from the world.
Seger left her southern home in 1998 for London, where the album was recorded. Now with “May Street Project,” she returned to the states in June, and college radio stations will receive the album for play March 5. KWVA has my recommendation to put it into rotation so all you wonderful people can hear this talented youngster.