Melanie Johnson: Press

"Melanie Johnson is one of the great pure pop discoveries of 2007. Her music has a wonderful purity to it that brings to mind everything from Aimee Mann, Keane, Left Banke, Suzanne Vega, and Mary Lou Lord. If you like straight ahead great honest to God pop music with no gimmicks and lots of sincerity..please pick this up! You'll be glad you did! Grade A" Jeremy Morris, Jam Records.

From the soft opening to the roaring guitar break of "Pointless," the lead track on Melanie Johnson's "Soul of a Spy" CD, you get a pretty good idea of where she's taking you. "It Was" and "All in My Head" are brave confessions of pain and loss, while "Summer Side" and the cover of The Cyrkle's "Turn Down Day" let you know that hope springs eternal. The juxtaposition of Melanie's soft voice and her blazing guitar work are further proof that contradiction is the very thing that makes this CD work so well.

This CD illustrates what happens when someone with talent takes the time to think and say what comes from the deepest part of her. The highlight for me was the gut wrencher, "It Was", about a girls retrospective of her mother. Other highlights are "Pointless", showcased by the production and guitar skills of Craig Bickhardt and Jack Sundrud. "Summer Side" and "Dance to a Band" gave great contrast to this admittedly introspective but exquisitely crafted collection.