Meghan Coffee
Songs to Sail By
self-release
by Al Kaufman
Every female singer/songwriter pianist that comes out these days inevitably draws comparisons to Tori Amos and Regina Spektor, and so too shall local girl Meghan Coffee. Her piano swirls and twirls with raw emotion, as does her voice. But, despite her lack of years, Coffee’s songs are richer and less flaky than those of her pianist peers’. Her Songs to Sail By is aptly named. Her wonderous melodies wrap themselves around your unsuspecting brain and gently tug in opposite directions, like a cross breeze in the ocean. The tension they create is thrilling. In opening track, "Nightingale," she conjures up the smoldering sexuality and fierce determination of none other than Patti Smith. While "Song Without a Name" sits upon gentler waters. It is as pretty as "Nighingale" is passionate. Coffee also manages to remind us of another pianist who occasionally resides in Georgia, Elton John, as "I Was Listening, I Was Waiting" has a melody line alarmingly similar to to the Rocket Man’s "Goodbye Yellow-Brick Road." But then she starts singing in the beautiful voice of hers, and all worries of plagarism drift off to sea.
Meghan Coffee’s CD release party (with Novah and Nate Nelson) is at Smith’s Olde Bar on Thursday, June 19th. 10 pm. $8/$10 door.
Meghan will also be opening for Edwin McCain at the 35th Anniversary Delta Classic Chastain concert series next Saturday, June 28.
